>-^^# .' 



* 2^/.' 



.0^ ^* 















^^^' 



-* .A 



^' 



^Xj:; 






r-. ^ ^^^ 




'^^^ ^81^"^ 




c> 






y W^J 




O '' "^"T ' 




, " s^ •*-> 


X 






'' .AV X-' " % 


^<f^ 




\ ^^A V^ 


?> -^ ^ W"^ 1' 


: xQ ^.. 






.^^" 






.'.-^ 



■c>- 



.0- s 






'>'^ ^/ 



s./Ak- 



\^ 


















C 






" / C' 



/. " 3 



* 3 1 ^ " xX'^ 






■'^^ ,^^' 



.^^^'^ 



f; , -^^ 






^0 o. 



CO^ 



.0 c 






'-^^ •^■1^0 



:>> .X^^ 



x^'^ \ 



■ A^ 






^^.. v-t\^ 



^ 



^ ■ •^,«^,^ "'^-. 



r: <H 



^> 'ri. 



^^^ 



,o 



V ^^^ '^^- 



v^' 









-- .^^ 






V 




oo^ 



.^ .H ^. 



'^ -^^ 



« 1 \ ~ \^ 



H...<>^^ 



' 01?^^f '%^_ ^^\'' 










"J 


^^ 


\ 





'/. ' ^, ,. 



.o~ ,>"•«, '^^ 






^^ a V 



" o-^' 



,%'*-"'"\>'. -'-,;■ 






-r-' 


















v ^ 



<^v 



^ 



-^,^^ 



^^-^^ 



oo 



«0 o^ 






m£:!^^ 



.•0- v" __ * 









'^A v^ 



oo' 



The New Housekeeping 

Efficiency Studies in Home 
Management 



BY 
CHRISTINE FREDERICK 



NATIONAL SECRETARY 

CONSULTING HOUSEHOLD EDITOR 

ladies' home JOURNAL 




ILLUSTRATED 



Garden City New York 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

1913 






Copyright, 1912, by 
Curtis Publishing Co. 

Copyright, 1913, by 

DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & CoMPANY 

All rights reserved, including that of 
translation into Foreign Languages, 
including the Scandinavian 






©CI.A347310 



To 
MY MOTHER AND FATHER 

WHOSE HIGH SPIRIT OF HOUSEKEEPING AND 

HOME-MAKING HAS EVER BEEN MY 

STIMULATION AND IDEAL 



PREFACE 

A moderate income, two babies, and constant 
demands on my time, was the situation that 
faced me several years ago. 

I hked housework, and was especially fond of 
cooking; but the deadening point about the whole 
situation was that I never seemed to finish 
my work, never seemed to ''get anywhere," 
and that I almost never had any leisure time to 
myself. 

I wanted to read a bit, or write out some ideas 
I had been thinking about, or take a half hour 
for personal grooming. If I devoted my day 
to cooking, I was appalled later at the confusion 
and dirt I had neglected. If I specialized on 
cleaning, our meals were hurried and ill-pre- 
pared. If I tried to do justice to both cleaning 
and preparing of meals, I quite certainly neg- 
lected the babies and myself. 

My husband came home only to find me ''all 
[vii] 



PREFACE 



tired out," with no energy left to play over a 
song, or listen to a thoughtful article. I was con- 
stantly struggling to obtain a little ''higher life" 
for my individuality and independence; and on 
the other hand I was forced to give up this in- 
dividuality to my babies and drudgifying house- 
work. 

About this time I became acquainted, through 
my husband's interests, with several men in 
close touch with the new movement of indus- 
trial efficiency. From them I learned what 
the new science of work was accomplishing for 
the office, the shop, the factory. At first it 
did not occur to me that methods which were 
applicable to organized industries, like shoe fac- 
tories, and iron foundries, could also be applied 
to my group of very unorganized industries — 
the home. 

Yet the more I studied it, the more possible 
it seemed, and I determined to try it. For once 
I found a use for some of the college training I 
had despaired of ever putting into practice. I 
applied to the task of bringing the science of 
efficiency into the home, the same detailed 

[viii] 



PREFACE 



analysis that I had applied many a time in 
" Zoology A." or " Physics B." 

I confess that it was discouraging at first, due 
to the distractions and disturbed routines neces- 
sary in a home where there are small children. 
But gradually definite results began to come ■ — 
the most definite result and the most valuable 
benefit being the development of an efficiency 
attitude of mind. Once this attitude became 
thoroughly organized all the household prob- 
lems, large and small, became invested with 
entirely new interests and new possibilities. 
Instead of becoming something upon which to 
slave, they became objects of keen mental 
interest — quite the same, I am now sure after 
investigation, as the tasks of the business and 
industrial world which men tackle with zest 
and results. 

I put out this book, therefore, with a deeply 
earnest hope and belief that the beginnings made 
in the application of efficiency science to the 
household (however modest and inadequate) may 
yet assist in cutting from women the most dreary 
shackles of which they have ever complained. 

[ixl 



PREFACE 



The many letters I have received from Ameri- 
can housewives in response to the series of four 
articles on the subject appearing in the Ladies' 
Home Journal September-December, 1912, indi- 
cate definitely, and even pathetically, that 
conditions are sadly in need of remedy, and that 
in presenting this book I may entertain some 
hope of solving them. 

Christine Frederick. 
'' Ayplecroft,'^ 

Greenlawn, L, 7., March, WIS, 



[xj 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Preface vii 

\/ I. Efficiency and the New Housekeeping 3 
II. Applying "Standard Practice ' ' and 

"Motion Study" to Household 
Tasks 23 

III. Standardizing Conditions in Kitchen 

Arrangement 46 

IV. The Efficient Tool 60 

i V. Dispatching and Scheduling 

Household Tasks .... 83 

VI. The Housewife AS Purchasing Agent . 102 
VII. Efficient Management of Household 

Finances 115 

VIII. Reliable Records in the Household 126 

IX. The New Housekeeping Cook Book . 146 
X. Applying the Wage Schedule and Bonus 

Ideas to the Servant Problem . 153 
XI. Increasing Servant Efficiency . . 169 
V XII. Developing the HoM EM aker's Per- 
sonal Efficiency . . . . 181 

XIII. Men and the Household Efficiency 

Movement 197 

XIV. The Homemaker's Relation to B usiness 

AND Economics 204 

XV. Education and The Home Economics 

Movement 229 

XVI. The " Applecroft " Efficiency Kitchen 248 

XVII. Bibliography of Home Economics . 258 

[xi] 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mrs. Frederick in Her Efficiency Experiment 

Kitchen, "Applecroft," Greenlawn, L. I. Frontispiece "^ 

FACING PAGE 

Diagram showing badly arranged equipment . . b%^' 

Diagram showing proper arrangement of equipment 52 ^ 

Fuel-Savers 62 i/ 

Portable Oven with Window Prevents Loss of 

Heat 62'- 

Device Utilizing One Burner for Baking ... 62 ^ 
Gasolene Iron with Concentrated Heating Sur- 
face 62, 

Tea Kettle and Double Boiler Combined . . . 62 ' 

Well insulated Fuel-saving Fireless Cooker . . 62 

Time-Savers 68 

A Carafe Which Keeps Beverages Iced Many 

Hours 68 

Glass Ice-cream Freezer Which Requires No 

Turning 68 

Speedy Egg-beater Designed on the Turbine 

Principle 68 

Coffee Pot Permits Making Coffee Hours in 

Advance 68 

A Quick Toaster for Oil or Gas Fuels .... 68 

An Egg-boiler that Boils Eggs Just Right ... 68 

A Double Pan Which Cooks Two Foods at Once 68 
A Measuring Spoon Set Saves Lifting Different 

Spoons 68 

[ xiii ] 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

A Colander and Puree Strainer Which Gives Rapid 

Results 68 '^ 

Labour-Savers 78 «^ 

Dish Drainer Allows Dishes to Dry Themselves 78 i/ 
Hooded, Long-handled Dust-pan prevents Stoop- 
ing 78 u 

Stationary Egg-beater Prevents Waste Motion 78 "^ 

Washboiler with Rotary Wheel Saves Rubbing 78 '^ 

Hot Mangle Which Replaces Hand Labour . . 78 i/ 
Silver Clean Pan Which Does Away with Silver 

Polishing 78 c/ 

AnEfficient, Easily Cleaned Meat-chopper . . 78 i^ 

Step-Savers 80 ^ 

" Lazy Susan," — The Silent Waitress .... 80 ^^ 
Wheel Tray Which Serves and Clears Away Meals 80 t^ 
Kitchen Cabinet Which is a Pantry and Table in 

One 80 «^ 

Disappearing Icebox Saves Stair Trotting . . 80 ^^^ 

Businesslike Equipment for the Home .... 138 ^' 

Sample Card from the Home Record Cabinet . . 138 i/ 
The Time and Worry Saving Home Record 

Cabinet 138 ^ 

A Vertical Letter File for Receipts 138 

A Tickler Which Reminds the Busy Housewife . 138 - 
A Vertical Filing Envelope for Saving Large Clip- 
pings 138 

A Book of Handy Labels for Home Use . ... 138 
Specimen Recipe Card with Illustration, from Filing 

Cook Book 150 

The New Housekeeping Filing Cook Book . , . 150 



[xiv] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



CHAPTER ONE 

EFFICIENCY AND THE NEW HOUSE- 
KEEPING 



I WAS sitting by the library table, mending, 
while my husband and a business friend were 
talking, one evening about a year ago. I heard 
them use several new words and phrases so often 
that I stopped to listen. 

"Efficiency," I heard our caller say a dozen 
times; '* standard practice," "motion study," 
and "scientific management," he repeated over 
and over again. The words suggested interest- 
ing things, and as I listened I grew absorbed 
and amazed. 

"What are you men talking about?" I inter- 
rupted. " I can't help being interested. Won't 
you please tell me what 'efficiency' is, Mr. 
Watson? What were you saying about brick- 
laying?" 

" Your husband and I were just discussing this 
[3] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



new idea developed in business, called 'effi- 
ciency/ or 'scientific management'/* Mr. Wat- 
son replied. ''A group of men, Emerson and 
Taylor among others, have come to be known in 
the business and manufacturing world as 'effi- 
ciency engineers.' These men are able to go 
into a shop or factory, watch the men at work, 
make observations and studies of motions, and 
from these observations show where waste and 
false movements occur and why the men lose time. 
Then they go to work to build up the ' efficiency' 
of that shop, so that the men do more work in less 
time, with less waste and greater output or gain 
to the owners, while the workers have shorter 
hours, higher pay, and better working condi- 
tions." 

"Just how do they find out what is wrong?" 
I asked, laying my sewing on the table, and lis- 
tening eagerly, "and how do they actually 
increase this 'efficiency'?" 

"Well, for instance," answered Mr. Watson, 
"this is how they improved the method of lay- 
ing bricks: Formerly a workman stood before 
a wall, and when he wanted to lay a brick he had 

[4] 



EFFICIENCY 



to stoop, pick a brick weighing four and a half 
pounds from a mixed pile at his feet, and carry 
it to the wall. Suppose he weighed one hundred 
and eighty pounds; that worker would have to 
lower his one hundred and eighty pounds four 
feet every time he picked up each of the two 
thousand bricks he laid in a day ! Now an effi- 
ciency expert, after watching bricklayers at 
work, devised a simple little table which holds 
the bricks in an orderly pile at the workman's 
side. They are brought to him in orderly piles, 
proper side up. Because he doesn't need to 
stoop or sort, the same man who formerly could 
lay only one hundred and twenty bricks an hour 
can now lay three hundred and fifty bricks, and 
he uses only five motions, where formerly it 
required eighteen." 

''That sounds like a fairy tale," I laughed 
skeptically. "What else wonderful can they 
do with this magic wand of 'efiiciency'.^^" 

"It does sound like magic," Mr. Watson re- 
plied, "but it is only common sense. There is 
just one best way, one shortest way to perform 
any task involving work done with the hands, 

[5] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



or the hands and head working in cooperation. 
These efficiency men merely study to find that 
one best and shortest way, and when they have 
found it they call that task * standardized/ 
Very often the efficiency is increased because 
the task is done with fewer motions, with better 
tools, because of even such a simple thing as 
changing the height of a work-bench, or the 
position of the worker." 

"Yes," my husband put in, "by applying 
the principles of efficiency, manufacturers are 
enabled to save thousands of dollars. You 
know, Brandeis, in the famous railroad rate hear- 
ing at Washington, showed that if the railroads 
would work under conditions of scientific man- 
agement, they could save a million dollars a 
dayr 

"Why, I suppose you smart men and effi- 
ciency experts will soon try to tell me and all 
the other women that washing dishes can be 
'standarized,'" I bantered, "or that we could 
save a million dollars if we would run our homes 
on 'scientific management'!" 

"Now, Mrs. Frederick," replied Mr. Watson 
[6] 



EFFICIENCY 



seriously, "that is really not too much to im- 
agine. There is no older saying than 'woman's 
work is never done.' If the principles of 
efficiency can be successfully carried out in 
every kind of shop, factory, and business, why 
couldn't they be carried out equally well in the 
home.?^" 

''Because," I answered, "in a factory the 
workers do just one thing, like sewing shoes, or 
cutting envelopes, and it is easy to standardize 
one set of operations. But in a home there are 
dozens, yes, hundreds, of tasks requiring totally 
different knowledge and movements. There is 
ironing, dusting, cooking, sewing, baking, and 
care of children. No two tasks are alike. In- 
stead of working as she would in a factory, at 
one task, the home-worker peels potatoes, 
washes dishes, and darns stockings all in the same 
hour. Yes, and right in the midst of peeling 
the potatoes she has to drop her knife, and see 
why the baby is crying. 

"You men simply don't understand anything 
about work in a home," I continued, heatedly. 
"One day a woman sweeps and dusts, and the 

[7] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



next she irons, and the next she bakes, and in- 
between-times she cares for babies, and sews, 
answers call bells and 'phones, and markets, and 
mends the lining of her husband's coat, and 
makes a cocoanut cake for Sunday! 

"Perhaps she can afford one maid ^ — per- 
haps she belongs to the fortunate but very small 
class that can afford two. But even then she 
has to see that servants don't waste, that they 
work the best way, and, in addition, put up with 
their foibles, which is almost as bad as having 
to do all the work herself. 

*'Do you mean to tell me that so many kinds 
of household tasks could be ' standardized,' or 
that the principles of scientific management 
could be applied in the home?" I concluded 
a little triumphantly. "I've talked with num- 
bers of maids, and they all have the same plaint : 
that there are too many kinds of work to be 
done by the same person, that they never have 
any dependable 'off hours,' and that no two 
families do the same task in the same way. 
That is why they prefer to work in factories 
where one set of operations can be standardized; 

[8] 



EFFICIENCY 



and there you have the whole crux of the ser- 
vant question." 

Mr. Watson shifted his chair with a reahza- 
tion that he had been put up against no simple 
problem, nor one in which he had experience. 
Then he answered, "Well, I hadn't considered 
the idea before, but I believe so strongly in the 
principles of efficiency and have seen them work 
out so satisfactorily in every kind of shop 
where there are different kinds of work and 
where the owners have said just what you say, 
that I absolutely know that these principles 
must have application to any kind of work, and 
that they could be carried out successfully in 
the home if you women would only faithfully 
apply them. 

'*I must leave iiow, but I tell you what I'll 
do. I'll come over some evening to talk to 
you, and see what we can figure out on home 
efficiency. I certainly don't see why you 
couldn't work out some of its principles in a 
mighty interesting way. Suppose you read this 
book on scientific management?" 

After Mr. Watson had gone, I turned eagerly 
[9] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



to my husband. "George," I said, "that effi- 
ciency gospel is going to mean a great deal to 
modern housekeeping, in spite of some doubts I 
have. Do you know that I am going to work 
out those principles here in our home! I won't 
have you men doing all the great and noble 
things ! I'm going to find out how these experts 
conduct investigations, and all about it, and 
then apply it to my factory, my business, my 
home." 

The more I thought about it, the stronger hold 
the idea took upon me. Just a few days previous 
I had been reading an article by a prominent 
clubwoman who was solving the servant prob- 
lem by substituting expensive household equip- 
ment in place of her three servants. Another 
review discussed the number of women who were 
living in apartments and boarding-houses, and 
who refused to shoulder the burdens of real 
homemaking. A third writer enlarged on the 
lack of youthful marriages, a lack which he 
claimed was due to the fact that young women 
of this era refuse to enter the drudgery of 
household tasks. On all sides it was the prob- 

[10 1 



EFFICIENCY 



lem of the home, the problem of housekeeping 
and homemaking. 

The home problem for the woman of wealth is 
simple: it is solved. Money, enough of it, will 
always buy service, just as it can procure the 
best in any other regard. The home problem 
for the women of the very poor is also fairly 
simple. The women of the poor themselves 
come from the class of servants. Their home- 
making is far less complex, their tastes simple, 
and society demands no appearance-standard 
from them. Added to this, organized philan- 
thropy is by every means teaching the women 
of the poor how to keep house in the most scien- 
tific, efficient manner. Settlements, domestic 
science classes, model kitchens and tenements, 
nursing stations, slum depots, charity boards, 
health boards, visiting nurses, night schools, 
and mission classes are teaching, free, the 
women of the poor how to transmute their old- 
world ignorance into the shining knowledge of 
the new hemisphere. 

The problem, the real issue, confronts the 
middle-class woman of slight strength and still 

[11] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



slighter means, and of whom society expects so 
much — the wives of ministers on small salary, 
wives of bank clerks, shoe salesmen, college pro- 
fessors, and young men in various businesses 
starting to make their way. They are refined, 
educated women, many with a college or busi- 
ness training. They have one or more babies 
to care for, and limited finances to meet the 
situation. 

The soaring cost of living and the necessity 
for keeping up a fair standard of appearances 
obligatory on the middle class prevent any but 
the more than "average" well-to-do from em- 
ploying regular help. Among ten average fami- 
lies I know (scattered the country over) whose 
incomes range from $1,200 to $2,500 a year, the 
occupations range as follows: 

Two high-grade mechanics One young doctor 

One salesman in photo suppHes One lawyer 

One salesman in ofl&ce equipment One advertising man 

One artist and illustrator One literary man 

Only one family of the ten employs regular 
help. The others depend on intermittent clean- 
ing and a woman to do the washing. It is this 

[12] 



EFFICIENCY 



better class of refined but small-salary-family 
woman who becomes "all tired out," who never 
has any "time to herself," or who is forced to 
endure the slipshod methods of one retreating 
Lizzie after another because she cannot afford 
experienced help. According to figures com- 
piled by the Business Bourse, there are 1, 677,150 
families in the country employing domestic 
help, while there are 19,023,952 families keeping 
house. In other words, only 8 per cent, of the 
families in the United States keep domestic 
help! 

Figures of the United States Census show that 
each decade fewer women are entering service, 
chiefly because many new and apparently more 
attractive fields of employment are constantly 
being opened to the class who formerly confined 
their work to service alone. That is, there are 
fewer servants, there will continue to be less, 
and the wages of those few will be higher than at 
present. 

After Mr. Watson's talk on efficiency I began 
to consider this middle class — to which I be- 
long — and whose difficulties I faced every day. 

[13 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



I had two babies and was struggling with young 
and inexperienced help. If 'efficiency' accom- 
plished such marvellous results for the shop and 
factory, would it not accomplish as much for 
my home, if I studied its principles carefully, 
and practised them intelligently? 

I determined then to give this gospel of 
efficiency a fair trial, but first I wanted Mr. 
Watson, himself an efficiency engineer, to ex- 
plain it thoroughly. 

"Now, Mr. Watson," I said a few evenings 
later, *' I want you to explain the principles of effi- 
ciency to me — the how, the why — so that I and 
all the other homemakers can understand it fully." 

"Gladly," replied Mr. Watson; "I'll begin 
by stating the twelve principles on which the 
science of efficiency rests: 



1. 


Ideals 7. 


Dispatching 


2. 


Common Sense 8. 


Scheduling 


3. 


Competent Counsel 9. 


Reliable Records 


4. 


Standardized Opera- 






tions 10. 


Discipline 


5. 


Standardized Condi- 






tions 11. 


Fair Deal 


6. 


Standard Practice 12. 
[14] 


Efficiency Reward 



EFFICIENCY 



"You notice that the first principle is that of 
'ideals.' The first thing an efficiency expert 
finds out when he wishes to improve the stand- 
ard of a plant is, what are its ideals? What is 
it running for? These experts say it is astound- 
ing how many people are running businesses 
and don't know why they are running them! 
I sometimes think that many women don't 
consciously know why they are running their 
homes. The ideal should be so strong, so clearly 
kept in mind, that it will overweigh any pres- 
ent petty difficulties. Ideals look to the future, 
they are the 'something' that guides, directs, 
propels the whole machinery, whether of busi- 
ness or the home — do you get my meaning? 

''Women do have ideals as to why they run 
their homes," Mr. Watson continued "only they 
are not always concretely expressed to them- 
selves. It may be health, it may be spotless 
cleanliness, social progress, or something else. 
I know a woman who takes her babies out for a 
morning's airing and leaves the parlor undusted, 
even though she dislikes untidiness. But her 
ideal of health comes first. Then another 

[15] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



woman has turned her guest-room over to her 
two boys for their wireless and electricity appa- 
ratus. You know what a pretty guest-room 
means to a woman! But this mother has such 
a strong ideal of the future training and habits 
of her boys that she is willing to sacrifice a 
present pleasure for a remote end. Ideals can 
be so strong as to buoy up, overweigh difficulty, 
and be a vital spur to effort, in the home par- 
ticularly. The clearer a woman's ideals, the eas- 
ier her work, the greater her strength and success. 
She must know the 'why' of her business. 

"Common Sense is the next principle, and 
some people think this homely term covers all 
the principles. It is only common sense not to 
stoop for a pot if you can hang it where you don't 
need to stoop — and it is efficiency as well." 

"And what does 'competent counsel,' mean.?" 
I questioned. 

"Competent Counsel means expert advice 
and help. The efficiency engineers who are 
called in to large factories to find what is wrong, 
or suggest better methods, are one kind of com- 
petent counsel." 

[16] 



EFFICIENCY 



''Yes, but there are no efficiency experts in 
housekeeping, are there?" I inquired. 

''If the housewife would only realize it, there 
is more expert advice being offered her free than 
is being offered any manufacturer. Take the 
pages in all the best publications devoted to the 
science of home management. The finest spe- 
cialists and experts are retained by magazines to 
tell women how to care for babies, prepare foods, 
how to economize and how to make clothing. 
Both the booklets and the advertisements of 
various advertisers inform the housewife of new 
methods, recipes, devices, materials. The so- 
called ' Farmers' Bulletins' issued by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture are many of them equal to a 
correspondence course in home economics, as 
for instance, 'Eggs and Their Uses as Food,' 
'Economical Cuts of Meats,' which are sent free 
to any one on application. Perhaps you do not 
know how to use your oven properly. Large 
corporations like the gas company and others 
are only too glad to send a representative to tell 
you just how to use your stove, and inform you 
on other points. I learned the other day that 

[ 17 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



it costs a certain sum an hour for the large 
burner, so much for the small burner, and so 
much for the little * simmerer.' This exact 
knowledge should help one to save fuel. Demon- 
strators of other concerns, food and household 
shows, all act as 'competent counsel' to the 
housewife and homemaker. 

"Then comes Standardized Operations, which 
includes the oft-mentioned 'motion study,'" 
Mr. Watson continued. '*The homemaker takes 
countless steps and motions in every task, many 
of which are entirely avoidable. She may walk 
twenty feet to hang up the egg-beater; she may 
wash dishes in a way that wastes time and effort; 
or she lifts separately each piece of laundry from 
the basket at her feet, when the efficient thing 
would be to place the whole basket at her own 
level. Standardized conditions mean the right 
height of work-table, proper light, ventilation, 
and the correct tool for the purpose. In shops 
and factories where the experts have studied 
the manner in which work is done, and where, 
after repeated experiment, the one best method 
and best set of conditions has been determined, 

[18] 



EFFICIENCY 



this best, shortest and most efficient way is 
written down so that all workers may read it. 
That is, the task is reduced to 'standard prac- 
tice,' and the housekeeper can find countless 
tasks which she can reduce to standard practice, 
with a saving of effort, time, and vitality." 

"What is this next point of * Dispatching ' .^ " 
I asked. ''I know the best way to do a number 
of things, but I never can plan my work so as to 
get it done without interruption. I begin to 
cut out a waist, and the children want a drink 
and I have to stop and get it, and when I come 
back my pattern and goods are all upset, and 
I have almost forgotten what I was doing." 

"There," laughed Mr. Watson, "is just where 
you need the principles of 'dispatching,' and 
'scheduhng.' Planning and arranging work 
come under these points. For instance, a train 
starts from New York at 4 p. m., and arrives at 
Chicago the next morning at nine. The 'dis- 
patching' consists in moving the train along so 
that it will reach every station at the right time. 
A^pphed to housework it would mean that there 
was a definite regular time for each task, so that 

[19] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



each task was done at a certain time in relation 
to other tasks. You wouldn't cut out your 
waist unless you were sure you wouldn't be 
interrupted, you see. 

" The ' Schedule' is the eighteen hours it takes 
the train to reach Chicago, and it is based on 
various trials and methods which enable it to 
make Chicago in just eighteen hours and no 
less. A housewife can find out her schedules 
for various tasks, how long it takes to make a 
cake, or clean the bathroom. Then, when she 
knows her schedule, she can more accurately 
plan or dispatch her work without fear of inter- 
ruption." 

"Very often I read some helpful article in 
the magazines," I remarked, "but when I 
want it, I can't find it." 

"Ah, I thought so," Mr. Watson laughed. 
"You need 'Reliable Records' in your home- 
management, I see. We will take that up in 
detail later. 

"And if the remaining principles of 'Discip- 
line,' 'Fair Deal' and ' Efficiency Reward ' could 
be carried out in the home," he concluded, "I 

[ 20 ] 



EFFICIENCY 



venture to say that this whole awesome ' servant 
problem' would be solved. One of the remark- 
able things about scientific management is that 
there have been few, if any, strikes in the shops 
where its principles are in practice. The men 
remain because they are treated fairly, and their 
interests looked out for by the owner. 

''Ninety per cent, of servant troubles are at 
bottom the fault of the mistress," Mr. Watson 
declared. "Now if a woman knew and applied 
scientifically the principle of 'fair play' her help 
wouldn't leave her, sick, in bed, as I have heard 
some maids have done. An efficient mistress 
would handle her help as scientifically as the 
manager of a big shop. She will use the prin- 
ciple of 'efficiency reward' with her helpers, 
and know how to secure from them that 'ini- 
tiative' — that something over and above mere 
work which is essential, while at the same time 
she improves the conditions under which they 
work." 

Mr. Watson looked at me across the table. 
"Now you understand clearly what efficiency 
means — not expensive equipment or impracti- 

[ 21 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



cal theories, but simple principles of work 
which enable you and every homemaker to do 
her household tasks in the best way, with least 
effort and greatest success." 

"If efficiency in the home can accomplish all 
you make me believe it can," I replied, "a new 
housekeeping will have come, and homemaking 
will be the greatest profession." 



[22] 



CHAPTER TWO 

APPLYING ''STANDARD PRACTICE" AND 
**MOTION STUDY" TO HOUSE- 
HOLD TASKS 



Usually after our dinner I wash forty-eight 
pieces of china, twenty-two pieces of silver and 
ten utensils and pots, or eighty pieces in all; and 
for years I never realized that I actually made 
eighty wrong motions in the washing alone, not 
counting others in the sorting, wiping, and laying 
away. Like all other women I thought that 
there couldn't be much improvement in the 
same old task of washing dishes. 

The drainboard of my sink is at the right. Now 
imagine me at the sink, dishes in dishpan, with a 
tray at my right to lay the dishes on when 
washed. What do I do.^ I take up a plate 
with my left hand and scour it back and front 
with the dishcloth which I hold in my right hand. 
Then I pass my left hand across my right arm, 
away over the tray, and lay the plate on the tray. 

[23] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



I move my left arm across my right arm in this 
awkward way every time I lay a dish on the 
tray. If I didn't do this I would have to drop 
the cloth from my right hand and change the 
plate from my left hand (in which I had held it 
while washing it) to my right hand, which would 
lay it on the tray. What else could I do.^ I 
will tell you in a minute. 

I measured the height of the bottom of my 
sink from the floor and found it was only 24 
inches. The sink basin was only 5 J inches deep. 
That is why the water slopped over the pan and 
over the edge of the sink. Besides, our builder 
had carefully planned a dish closet over the sink 
at the exact height to strike the top of my head 
when I bobbed it up from my work! 

Now for some other mistakes : I didn't scrape 
my dishes thoroughly, so the water became 
greasy very soon. I sloshed a cake of soap, 
about in the water— particles of which stuck to 
the edges of the dishes. I used a tray to drain 
on, and the bottom dishes became cold and 
sloppy before they could be dried. My towels 
became wet, and I had to walk to the hall shelf 

[24] 



'* STANDARD PRACTICE*' 



for others. I dried the dishes and laid them on 
the table, then I picked them up (a second 
handling) and carried them to the pantry at the 
far end of the kitchen. 

It took me forty-five minutes to scrape, wash, 
and dry those eighty dishes by using wrong 
methods; now I wash the same number of pieces 
in thirty minutes, or a gain of fifteen minutes. 

How did I do it.^ I couldn't raise the sink 
because it is built in at that height; but I raised 
my pan four inches by placing it on an inverted 
sink-strainer (or I might have bought a sink- 
rack, costing 10 cents, for the same purpose). 
Lifting the pan to a table or the top of set tubs is 
not wise, as the pan must be lifted up and down 
each time the water needs changing. Neither 
could I make the sink deeper. Stupidity of 
builders is the only reason why sinks are low 
and shallow, and why out of sixty house and 
apartment sinks examined recently two thirds 
measured only from 22 to 30 inches from the 
floor. 

I have made careful tests on women of differ- 
ent heights to find the approximate proper height 

[25] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



of sink for any given height of woman. A uni- 
form ratio seems to be in effect; for every five 
inches diflference in the woman's height there is a 
corresponding change of two inches and a half 
in the proper height of sink, table, or ironing- 
board. That is, the best height for a woman 5 
feet 2| inches tall is 2 feet 5 inches, or 29 inches. 
For a woman five inches taller the proper height 
is 2 feet 7| inches, or 31j inches. I have also 
found that the proper and best height for a table 
is, for the same woman, the proper height for 
the bottom of her sink to be from the floor, 
and the best height for her ironing-board. This 
shows that there is one best height for all work- 
ing surfaces in the home at which the least strain 
is felt on the arms. 

The following figures will show you if your 
ironing-board or sink or table is at the proper 
level for your height: 

Height of Proper Height of 

Woman Working Surface 

4 feet 10 inches 27 inches 

4 " 11 " 27J " 

5 " 28 " 

5 " 1 " 28| " 

[26] 



STANDARD PRACTICE 



Height of 




Woman 


5 feet 2 inches 


5 ' 


3 * 




5 ' 


4 * 




5 ' 


5 ' 




5 ' 


6 ' 




5 ' 


7 ' 




5 ' 


8 ' 




5 ' 


9 ' 




5 ' 


= 10 ' 




5 ' 


11 ' 





Proper Height of 


Working Surface 


29 


inches 


29| 




30 




30J 




31 




31i 




32 




32| 




33 




334 





Fortunately I have been able to have my drain- 
board changed from the right to the left of the 
sink, which is always the one best position for a 
drainboard. Now I pick up a plate with my 
left hand, scour it with the cloth held in the 
right hand, and lay the plate on the tray with 
my left hand, without changing hands or passing 
my left arm across my right arm. My left 
hand is capable of repeating the ''laying-down 
motion" very fast and very easily, while the 
right hand never drops the cloth, but scours one 
dish after another rapidly. Try it and see the 
difference it makes. Had I not been able to 
change the drainboard from right to left I might 

[27] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



have wheeled a table to the left side of the sink. 
I also bought a wire dish-drainer costing 50 
cents, and a soap-shaker, a dish-mop and a plate- 
scraper costing 10 cents each. Then I carefully 
separated the whole process into three opera- 
tions: scraping and stacking, washing, drying 
and laying away. 

My first step was: Pots and pans filled with 
water. Dishes scraped with plate-scraper and 
stacked as to size, at right of worker. Towels 
to hand, hot suds made in pan by soap-shaker. 

My second step was: Glassware placed in 
pan, washed with mop or small-handled brush 
in right hand, lifted to drain-rack with left hand. 
Silver placed to soak in pan while glass is dried, 
sorted, placed on tray and carried to place. 
Repeat process with silver, drying and sorting on 
to tray at the same time, and remove to place. 

My third step was: Dishes of same kind 
placed in pan, washed, lifted out by left hand 
to dish-drainer. Pour scalding water on dishes 
in drainer, and leave to dry without wiping, 
while the pots and pans are scoured with a com- 
bination wire-bristle brush. If there is a hot- 



"'standard practice" 



water faucet a method that saves still more 
steps and time is to attach a foot or two of 
rubber hose and spray the dishes from the nozzle. 
Dishes are dry by the time pots are finished. 
Lift dishes from drainer, sort and stack on to 
tray, and carry to place. Hang up pots, pans, 
and all utensils. Rinse out towels and hang to 
dry. 

Note, please, that my drainer is at my left and 
the dishes are stacked to the right, (The ideal 
arrangement is a drainboard on each side of the 
sink.) This will make a difference of ten min- 
utes on a task requiring forty-five minutes. 
Note also that dishes, and particularly silver, 
are sorted as laid down on the tray. Note 
that the drainer does away with all wiping of 
the dishes. This cuts the time down consider- 
ably and saves the necessity of rubbing each 
piece with a dish-towel of doubtful cleanliness. 
While the dishes are drying the pots are cleaned 
with a wire-bristle brush. 

"Don^t you wipe the dishes at all.^^" some 
woman will ask. What is the use, when it is 
unnecessary and takes useless time? The glass 

[29] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



must be wiped, of course, because very hot 
water cannot be poured on it; silver must be 
wiped, because it doesn't dry itself as china 
does. Rinsing in scalding water gives china a 
better gloss than hand polishing. 

I have thus worked out for myself a "stand- 
ard practice" method of dishwashing which I 
have described in detail to show how any house- 
hold task can be studied, analyzed, and separated 
into two or three simple processes. By doing 
dishwashing in this best, or ''standard," way, 
I am able to do it quicker, more easily, and with- 
out awkward, useless motions. 

In housekeeping, just as in other industries, 
"motion study" means close analysis of work, 
whether it is peeling potatoes, making bread, 
or dusting a room. By this careful observation 
of how I do my work, I find what motions are 
efficient motions, and what motions are unneces- 
sary and inefficient. 

There is nothing difficult or mysterious about 
"motion study." Everything we do is motions, 
whether we stand or stoop; every task is com- 
posed of motions or groups of motions; if the 

[30] 



STANDARD PRACTICE" 



motions are few, easy and pleasant, the task is 
easy; if the motions are useless and fatiguing, 
the task is drudgifying. The whole object of 
"motion study" in the home is to analyze the 
way we do each task so that we may learn to do 
it in the way that is most pleasant and least 
fatiguing. 

Another general task is cleaning, and I next 
studied how I worked on my general cleaning 
day to see if I could improve my methods. I 
had been accustomed to clean windows, sweep 
the rugs, and wipe and dust the furniture of each 
room separately. On noticing carefully what I 
did, I found that cleaning was composed of four 
or more processes requiring many kinds of 
motions, and the use of different utensils, such 
as broom, duster, mop, and pail. Particularly 
these processes required change of position, and 
were totally unrelated. That is, first I swept, 
standing upright; then I ran for water and 
window-rags, and cleaned windows, sitting. 
Then dropping these tools I wiped floors with 
water or with an oiled rag, on my knees; and 
last I stood up or bent over to do the dusting. 

[31] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



I lost time whenever I laid down or picked up 
utensils, or whenever I changed my ** shift" 
from one task to another; and it took some time 
to change my speed from sweeping to scrubbing, 
for instance. 

What did I do? The simplest thing. First, 
I changed the window cleaning to a different 
afternoon entirely, as it is an unrelated task 
and need not be loaded on to the general clean- 
ing day. Then I did the sweeping of all the 
rooms first, and carried the utensils in that work 
to the kitchen. Next I wiped all the floors 
and carried the pail, etc., to the kitchen. Last 
I dusted one room after another. By specializ- 
ing these tasks in this simple way I just naturally 
speeded up on each one and finished the work 
more rapidly, by at least twenty minutes, than 
if I had cleaned each room and done each task 
separately. 

Our washing is done at home, as it is done in 
many homes, without a washing machine, and 
with only a common boiler. I next studied to 
see if I could find any improvement in the 
method of this common task. I noted that a 

[32 1 



"standard practice" 



great deal of time was lost in handling clothes 
which had not been properly sorted before the 
washing. Then, as I put all the clothes through 
the blue rinsing water, I noticed that I lifted 
up each piece from the water, and opened it out, 
particularly the smaller pieces. ''Why do I lift 
each piece like this?" I said to myself, "and is 
it necessary .f^" The answer was that I lifted 
each piece out of the water to see if it were a 
piece to be starched or not. I decided there 
must be some way to avoid this repeated motion 
of lifting each piece, and after a little experi- 
menting I soaked the starched pieces in one tub 
and the unstarched pieces in another tub before 
washing. Then I boiled all unstarched white 
pieces first, then rinsed them and placed them in 
a basket to be hung up. Then I washed and 
boiled all starched pieces separately, and rinsed 
and hung them up. I saved more than fifteen 
minutes by washing the two different kinds of 
clothes separately, because it previously took 
me that time to hold up each piece and decide 
whether it was to be starched or not — just lost 



[33 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



In ironing, I found that my board, just like 
the sink, was not at the right height. It was 
so high that I couldn't obtain enough purchase 
on my iron without extra eflPort. I simply 
lowered the board, made it very steady, and 
thus helped my efficiency. Even to-day so 
many women use the poor and inefficient method 
of supporting an ironing-board upon the back of 
a chair and the table, where it is always shaky, 
instead of using a good board on a stand capable 
of adjustment to various heights. 

In ironing I followed the same idea of special- 
ization: all starched pieces first, all flat pieces 
last. It is this separation and specialization 
that enable the worker to "speed up" as no 
other plan allows. 

I noticed that when I sprinkled clothes I first 
piled them all on a table, dampened each piece, 
rolled it and stooped to lay each separate piece 
in the clothes-basket at my feet — an unneces- 
sary motion for each of the dozens of pieces! 
I now place the basket on a high chair beside 
me, level with my table, and never stoop. 

I found I was making the same mistake when 
[34] 



"standard practice" 



I hung up the clothes, stooping for each piece 
in the basket to hang it up. I found I could 
stand between two lines and fill both alternately 
without waste motion. The clothes-basket I 
wheeled about in an abandoned go-cart ' — 
motion, effort and time saved — which kept the 
basket at the level of my waist instead of my 
feet. 

Even the simplest one-process tasks may be 
standardized, and a better way found which will 
entail less waste motion, which means waste 
vitality. One of the most common of tasks 
is to beat eggs, whip cream, or mix a cake batter. 
In each of these cases, the general way is to have 
the ingredients in a bowl, using the right hand to 
beat or manipulate the spoon or egg whip, while 
the left hand holds the bowl steady. We have 
become so accustomed to steadying a bowl in 
this way, with the left hand, that we can hardly 
believe such a method is extremely inefficient. 
It requires a strong and steady hold on the bowl 
to keep it at the proper slant or purchase for 
beating its contents. Why waste energy in 
keeping a utensil in place when we can easily 

[35] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



clamp any bowl or glass churn to the table, and 
save the wasted motion of holding the utensil in 
place for the real task of beating or whipping? 
Yet I could multiply instances where a woman 
mashes potatoes, strains apple sauce or puree, 
or beats mayonnaise, using a great deal of energy 
to steady the bowl in her left hand when she 
might use this wasted motion on the real task 
of the right hand. 

In connection with the sink and the ironing- 
board I have mentioned the height of the 
working surface as most important. No less 
important is the comfortable position of the 
worker. I should lay it down as a cardinal 
principle of efficient work, to sit down to it, 
rather than stand, whenever possible. One 
can prepare all vegetables, make cake or pie, 
wash dishes and iron sitting down. When one 
is standing there is a strain to keep the body up- 
right; when the body is seated this strain or 
motion is removed, and that much effort put 
at the service of the real task in hand. 

Another form of waste motion occurs in the 
bringing together of the proper ingredients, 

[36 1 



''standard practice" 



utensils and materials in one place, before the 
real task begins. The efficiency engineers who 
study conditions in factories watch a man at 
work. They note how much time it takes him 
to do the actual work. They time him on how 
long it takes him to bring his tools together, and 
how long it takes him to put the finished work 
away. 

Supposing it should take a man ten minutes 
to do a piece of work. If he does it in ten min- 
utes, he will have an efficiency of approximately 
100 per cent. But if it takes him four unneces- 
sary minutes to bring his tools together, or to lay 
his work away, his efficiency will be lowered 
to 71 per cent. The whole aim, of course, is to 
have the efficiency of the worker as near 100 
per cent, as possible. 

I know dozens of women who would be graded 
100 per cent, on the actual time they take in 
making a cake, or doing other tasks; but they 
waste motion — and hence time — bringing 
utensils and materials together before they begin 
the actual task; instead of grouping flour and 
flavouring, baking-powder, eggs and sugar all 

[37] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



on the table at once, they beat the eggs, then 
stop and get the sugar, then reach for the 
flavouring, and possibly have to go for the for- 
gotten cup of milk in the icebox. 

Another most important cause of waste 
motion in the kitchen is poor arrangement of 
utensils, not only with regard to a particular 
task, but with regard to all tasks, and other 
equipment. This is a point given great emphasis 
by efficiency engineers. Whole factories have 
been remodelled so that the machines could be 
in a right position, not only for the individual 
worker, but in right relation to other equip- 
ment and processes of the factory. 

This idea is especially applicable to the home. 
Perhaps you have a bread board of just the right 
height for your work — but where is its right 
position in your kitchen in relation to other 
utensils and to other tasks you have to do.^^ 
You may have the finest egg and cream whip, 
but where do you hang it, so that it is in just 
the right relation to all your other equipment.'^ 
And do you have to walk twenty feet for it when 
you need it.^ This point of efficiency in arrange- 

[38] 



"standard practice" 



ment is so vital and extensive that I want to 
take a whole chapter to discuss it. 

When we have studied a task, and stand- 
ardized it, we have found out, not only the best 
method of doing that task, but the time that best 
method requires — how long it will take us to 
do that task. The object of all standardization 
is really, then, to find out the shortest way, 
as well as the best way. Standardization im- 
plies skill, and the rapidity that comes from 
practice. In music we see that this is partic- 
ularly true, because by holding the hands in 
just the right way, the performer has so stand- 
ardized his work that he is able to play hundreds 
of notes a minute. 

In shops and factories the efficiency engineers 
make "time studies" of the work of the men, 
down to the fraction of a second, and on these 
studies the wages of the men are determined. 
Such detail is not needed in the home, but the 
object of our standardization in the home also 
is to find out the shortest, or more properly the 
average, time it takes us to perform any given 
task. When I know how long it takes me to do 

[39] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



some of my common tasks, I can the better plan 
my entire work along "schedule" lines. 

Here is a list of some of the common tasks I 
do, and how long each requires, working under 
' ' standard" conditions : 



Task 
Baby's bath 
Working bread 

(3 operations) 
Mix layer cake 
Ice layer cake . 
Salad dressing 
Pudding or dessert 
Dust, brush up 

five small rooms daily 
Mix pan of muffins 
Mix pan of biscuit 
Make pie 
Polish silver 
Clean bathroom 



Time required 
15 minutes 

12 minutes 
10 minutes 

5 minutes 
15 minutes 

12-15 minutes 

30 minutes 

6 minutes 
8 minutes 

10-12 minutes 
40 minutes 
20 minutes 



A last cause of waste motion is the use of the 
inefficient or wrong tool. I have often used a 
chopping bowl and knife, and it took me seven 
minutes to chop one pound of cooked meat. 
The person using a chopping knife raises and 
lowers his knife as he chops, and half the time 

[40] 



"'standard practice" 



he is not chopping meat, but air. Now with a 
meat choppec of family size I can grind three 
pounds of meat in one minute. That is because 
I am grinding meat all the time, and air none of 
the time, and because there is no wasted motion 
of raised and lowered arm fifty times or more. 

It is very often true that an improved labour- 
saver or household device is able to standardize 
work better than any method. This is true of 
a chopper, of a vacuum cleaner, which takes the 
place of both broom and duster; of a gas or elec- 
tric iron, which saves the repeated motion of 
changing irons, and of other equipment. But 
too many women put over-emphasis on the tool 
and too little on themselves. If a woman is 
inefficient, how can she use a tool except in an 
inefficient way? I believe strongly that wom- 
an's liberation from drudgery lies not so much 
in tools as in her own improved methods of 
work. 

A strong reason why the tool is not as impor- 
tant as more efficient working methods is that 
while some women can afford a vacuum cleaner 
or electric motor or other excellent tool, hun- 

[41] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



dreds and thousands of women cannot afford 
them and other devices, even though they wish 
to use them. But any one of these thousands 
of women can reduce the drudgery of their work, 
by better planning, more inteUigent systematiz- 
ing, and observation and experiment with their 
work and how they do it, until they have raised 
it to a greater skill — to " standard practice." 

For instance, in improving my method of 
dishwashing, I did buy several small tools to 
render the work more efficient. But was that 
the main factor in making the work easier, and 
causing it to require less time.^ The important 
thing was the way the dishes were handled, the 
position of the sink, the height of the sink, the 
method of sorting, etc. 

It might be argued that it is useless, anyway, 
to reduce dishwashing or any other task to a 
"standard practice," because there are mechani- 
cal dishwashers and devices which will event- 
ually replace all hand washing — that, in short, 
the tool is the salvation of the housekeeper, and 
not standard practice methods. 

But while one woman is able to afford such a 
[42 1 



"standard practice" 



device, thousands of other women are not able 
to afford all the labour-savers on the market. 
Moreover, no matter how perfect may be a 
mechanical labour-saver, human hands must 
bring the dishes to it, take them out, lay them 
away — in short, operate this device or any 
other; and whether the worker performs all the 
operations by hand or operates a machine, the 
principles of efficiency are the same, and the 
more deftly she handles her tool the greater her 
speed and output. 

From closely watching myself and others at 
work, I have grouped the causes which make for 
80 per cent, of the inefficiency in household 
tasks, as follows: 

1. The worker does not have all the needful tools 
or utensils at hand before her when she begins work. 
Therefore 

2. She wastes time and effort walking to, hunting 
for or fetching ingredients, tools or materials she neg- 
lected to have at hand when she began the task. 

3. She stops in the middle of one task to do something 
else quite unrelated. 

4. She lowers the efficiency of good work by losing 
time putting tools or work away, generally due to poor 
arrangement of kitchen, pantry, and closets. 

[43] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



5. She uses a poor tool, or a wrong one; or works 
at a table, sink, ironing-board or moulding-board of the 
wrong height from the floor. 

6. She loses time because she does not keep sufficient 
supplies on hand, and because she does not keep her 
tools and utensils in good condition. 

Any worker who desires to eliminate waste 
motion, standardize her tasks, and increase her 
efficiency 50 per cent., can ask herself these 
questions : 

1. Is my table, stool, board, or working surface at the 

right height? 

2. Are my utensils and materials needed for this task 

all before me when I begin? 

3. Do I have to stoop unnecessarily? Do I take 

useless steps? 

4. Are my utensils arranged with proper regard to 

each other, and to other tasks? 

5. Do I waste motion and energy holding a bowl or 

utensil in place when it should be screwed to the 
table? 

6. Is my position comfortable? 

7. Are the tools and utensils grouped properly before 

me for this particular task? 

8. Am I using the best and right tool for the purpose? 

9. Is the tool properly adjusted and in good condition 

before I begin work? 

10. Am I making any awkward motions, or ones I 

could omit? 

[44] 



''standard practice" 



Since much inefficiency and waste motion is 
due to poor arrangement of the kitchen and its 
fittings, I will devote the next chapter to dis- 
cussing "Standardized Conditions" in kitchen 
arrangement. 



[45] 



CHAPTER THREE 

STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS IN 
KITCHEN ARRANGEMENT 



1 RECALL a young bride who recently showed me 
her new kitchen. "Isn't it a beauty?" she ex- 
claimed. It certainly had modern appliances 
of every kind. But her stove was in a recess of 
the kitchen at one end. Her pantry was twenty 
feet away at the opposite end. Every time she 
wanted to use a frying pan she had to walk 
twenty feet to get it, and, after using it, she 
had to walk twenty feet to put it away. I 
know blocks and blocks of houses in a city over 
100,000 population which are all built that way. 
When I see such a kitchen I am reminded of the 
barker I once heard outside of a country circus. 
"Ladies and gentlemen," he was calling, "come 
in and see the great African crocodile. It meas- 
ures 18 feet from the tip of its nose to the tip 
of its tail, and 18 feet from the tip of its tail to 

[46 1 



STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 



the tip of its nose, making in all, ladies and 
gentlemen, a grand total of 36 feet." How 
many women are "making a grand total" of 
thirty-six steps every time they hang up the 
egg-beater? 

The first step toward the efficiency of any 
kitchen is to have the kitchen small, compact, 
and without long narrow pantries and closets. 
Many women are under the impression that a 
*' roomy" kitchen is desirable. It may appear 
attractive, but a careful test of the way work is 
done in a "roomy" kitchen will discover waste 
spaces between the equipment, and hence waste 
motion between the work. Country kitchens 
are particularly apt to be large, and are often 
a combined sitting-room and kitchen. This 
plan seems cosy, but is inefficient because of the 
presence of lounges, flowers, and sewing — all 
unrelated to the true work of the kitchen, which 
is the preparing of food. It is much wiser to 
have the kitchen small, and make a separate 
sitting-room so that the tired cook may rest in 
a room other than the one in which she has 
worked. 

[47] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



A good-sized kitchen for a small-sized house 
is 10 X 12; the ideal is nearly square, or only 
slightly longer than wide. After deciding that 
our kitchen must be small, the next step in 
standardizing its arrangement is to place the 
principal equipment of stove, sink, tables, and 
closet sin right relation to each other and the 
processes they develop. In planning for any 
kitchen I have found, after close study, that 
there are just two main processes in all kitchen 
work. Every task done, peeling potatoes or 
washing a skillet, can be divided clearly under 
one or the other group. One group is those 
processes which prepare the meal; the second 
group is those processes which clear away the 
meal. Each of these processes covers distinct 
equipment. The reason for so much inefficiency 
in kitchen work is almost solely because these 
two processes are not kept separate, and be- 
cause, particularly, the equipment of each proc- 
ess is not kept together, 

I want to explain this idea in detail, because 
it is so very important, although so very simple, 
as every intelligent woman will see if she 

[48] 



STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 



only stops to think. Let me state it in this 
way: 

Preparing Meal 



1. Prepar- 
ing 

Group I /All foods 

2. Cooking I 

S. Serving 

Clearing Meal 
1. Removing 

Group II ' ^ Vutensils 

8. Laying I dishes 
away 



Equipment 

1. Icebox, pantry, 
table, kitchen- 
cabinet 

2. Stove, utensils 
,3. Table, trays 

1. Trays, tables 

'2. Sink, drain 

'3. Closets, pan- 
try, icebox 



Suppose, for instance, we wish to make an 
omelet. We take eggs and milk from the ice- 
box or pantry (follow diagram), beat it at a table, 
cook on stove, serve on platter, and take to 
dining-room. This is the preparing process of 
this dish, and is the simplest method we can 
follow. On the return trip, or the processes of 
clearing away, I take the empty platter from the 
dining-room to the kitchen sink, wash it, and 
lay it away. 

[49] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Now if the kitchen table, stove, and sink are 
in the right relation to each other, we can make 
our omelet or any other dish with the least 
possible number of steps, motion, time, and 
fatigue. But if the stove, sink, and tables are 
not in right relation to each other, it will require 
twice as much energy to cook and serve our 
omelet. 

The definite equipment of the processes of 
Group I come in order this way : 

Icebox — preparing table — stove — serving 
table — dining-room. 

The definite equipment of the processes of 
Group II come in this order: 

Sink table — sink-drain — china and dish 
closets. 

In my small kitchen, therefore, I have ar- 
ranged the equipment as follows: first, at the 
south, an icebox, then a kitchen cabinet, then 
the stove, and last a small serving table. At 
the other side of the room come, first to left, 
china shelves, then sink, and last at right, sink 
table. 

[50] 



STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 



To make my omelet, I take materials from 
icebox, turn a step to right, where I beat it on 
surface of cabinet, turn one more step to right 
for stove, and a last step to right lays it on the 
serving table, when I can carry it to kitchen. 
On the return trip I take the soiled platter 
from dining-room directly to sink table, wheel 
left to sink, left to drain, and last, left to closet 
shelves. 

I have drawn two diagrams which show the 
making of an omelet under two arrangements of 
equipment. One is a steady track from icebox 
to dining-room; the other is a crossing and 
recrossing like the tracks of a hound after a hare. 

I have dwelt at length on this point, because 
it is the first vital point, the heart, or crux, of the 
whole matter of ''step-taking." It is so easy 
to have the equipment in right relations, but 
how many kitchens there are where the sink is 
next the pantry, where it is useless; where the 
stove and sink are adjacent; where the china 
shelves and the stove are alongside, with noth- 
ing to do with each other. Efficiency engineers 
who have been called in to standardize the tasks 

[ 51 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



in factories have, after examination, found that 
each separate operation was being done very 
well; but time and recrossing of materials re- 
sulted in waste, because the main equipment was 
not in right relation to other processes in the 
same room or the same building. 

In general, I should lay down these simple 
rules for a right-handed person: 

1. Icebox or pantry to left of preparing table; 
stove to right of working table, and serving 
table to right of stove. 

2. Sink table to right of sink; drain to left 
of sink; closet or china shelves to left of drain. 

As the next step in our standardization it is 
important that every bit of the main equip- 
ment, the sink, stove, cabinet top, and tables, 
are at the right height for the worker. Only 
at the right height can there be ease in working 
at their surfaces. The table found in chapter 
two will help any woman find the best height for 
herself; or she can by actual experiment of hold- 
ing a pan on a small table, which a second person 
lowers and raises, adjust the most comfortable 
place for her arms to hold the pan or bowl. 

[521 



CABINET 






m 



o o o 

stoxte; 



:Ea 






--> 



® 



o 

i 



CI ee 

a ^ 



a CL 



fc, .Sis cS 
Qj a V V 



Jh c o I 






TABI^EJ 



A-v 



W^^l 



pqN 



\ 



<\ 



V-^^< 



fp\ 



\ 



05 

CO 

o 






CHIM/^ 



4^" C 



a rv 

cr 

0* 



.^4 JQ 5 s S 



I: ^ 



&c 



g=a^& 

.2 1^ =* 1. 



a a 



STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 



After this comes the arrangement, or group- 
ing, of small utensils in proper relation to the 
larger processes to which they belong. That is, 
there is a process of preparing, a process of 
cooking, and a third of serving any food. Now 
there are small utensils which are distinctly re- 
lated to each group, and these should never be 
placed with the utensils of another group. In 
preparing food we use can-opener, cleaver, egg- 
beater, and bread knife. These should be hung 
near the preparing table or cabinet top. The 
special small cooking utensils are skimmer, pan- 
cake turner, and long fork and large spoon, 
which should be hung near or over the stove. 
Last, the serving tools are the colander, strainers, 
and similar utensils; these should be over or 
near the serving table. Too often the utensils 
are all hung together, or jumbled in a drawer. 
Why reach across the stove for the potato 
masher when it belongs over the table? Why 
walk to the cabinet for the pancake turner when 
you need it for the stove? A second reason here 
comes in for the efficient relation of the main 
equipment: not only will rightly related equip- 

[53 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



merit save steps in the main processes of cooking 
and serving, but it saves steps in the handHng of 
each and every part of the small equipment. 
In other words, if your stove and sink are 
wrongly placed your egg-beater and can-opener 
will be wrongly placed. Almost invariably the 
efficiency of the small pieces depends on the 
efficient relation of the large pieces. 

Therefore the pots, pans, skillets, and essen- 
tial cooking utensils should be grouped near 
the stove, not across near the sink or the china. 
So the mixing bowls and all cake, muffin, and 
bread pans should be near the working table. 
The china, I have said, should be on shelves in 
closets in the group with the sink, so that it can 
be laid directly on the shelves as soon as washed, 
and not dragged twenty feet to a distant pantry. 

This matter of arrangement concerns not 
only the utensils and equipment, but the gro- 
ceries and foods needed in the kitchen. It is 
just as wasteful of energy to walk ten unneces- 
sary feet for a box of cereal as it is to walk the 
same unnecessary distance for the can-opener. 
I believe a kitchen cabinet is the best form of 

[54] 



STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 



step-saver in this respect, as it contains places 
for sugar, flour, tea and coffee, cereals, and small 
package goods. A person sitting at its mould- 
ing surface can reach all foods needed in the 
preparation of many dishes, without getting up 
or down. 

No kitchen can be standardized if there is 
not a definite place for each article. Nothing 
must be overcrowded, nothing jostled with other 
articles. The strip of leather over a cobbler's 
bench has always impressed me — there are so 
many little pockets, in such little space, and 
every tool in its own niche. 

Although it is included in the point of the 
right height of surface, I wish to emphasize 
the point of all utensils being at the right height, 
or at least, not too low nor too high for comfort 
in reaching. This means that most utensils 
should be on shelves, or hung at a comfortable 
height. Pot lids can be slipped in a rack on the 
wall, pots can be set on shelves above or near the 
stove at a convenient reaching height. There is 
positively no need for stooping to the floor for 
any utensil. 

[55] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



I wish now to discuss another phase of the 
standardization of the kitchen, and take up the 
Hght, ventilation, and surface furnishing of the 
standardized kitchen. I was surprised the other 
day to see the advertisement of a large factory 
building, with halftone of the building whose 
walls were solid panes of glass windows. On a 
visit to the largest publishing plant, I was struck 
by the overhead, brilliant light on the pressmen. 
Our kitchen cannot be efficient if there is poor 
and badly directed light on the worker and her 
work. It would seem as if builders just stuck 
in a window for pleasure, or for a joke, without 
any relation to the idea that work, and work 
requiring scrupulous cleanliness, was going on 
behind that window. The light should come 
from the side of the worker, if possible, and cer- 
tainly the worker should never stand in his own 
light. The placing of artificial light is just as 
important, and there is nothing more distress- 
ing than to cook in one's own shadow. Every 
kitchen task, washing a cream pitcher, picking 
over a salad, needs the most excellent light to 
insure the task being done in a sanitary way. 

[56] 



STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 



Cooking almost always necessitates the pres- 
ence of some odour in the room. The very 
combustion of the fuel, not to mention the cook- 
ing of the food, makes an odour. The kitchen 
suffers most from the contamination of its air 
by odours — which decrease the amount of 
oxygen — and that is why the cook has a 
headache so often! The windows should allow 
plenty of ventilation; large stoves can be fitted 
with an iron hood to carry off the odours; 
ventilators can be fitted into the flue, or ventilat- 
ing fans operated by a current. Ventilation is 
part of compulsory factory law, and it cer- 
tainly needs the attention of the efficient home- 
maker in her home. 

The floor covering of the kitchen should allow 
complete and easy washing; the surface should 
not be covered with any porous material which 
will absorb or stain with grease. Linoleum, tile, 
and a new cork material very restful to the feet 
are the best coverings; wood is too porous, and 
turns dark and ugly with washing. The base- 
board should be curved, rather than square, to 
avoid unsanitary cracks. The walls and ceiling 

[57] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



are best painted, or covered with washable 
Sanitas, both of which materials allow perfect 
washing. All the woodwork and trim should 
be of hard wood, with a finish that allows fre- 
quent and easy washing. The colour of the 
kitchen should be chosen with an eye to light, 
cheer, and coolness; hence light tones of green, 
tan, and blue make the most attractive kitchens. 
The most important point in the choice of 
fittings for the kitchen is that of "washability." 
I have been through the kitchens of one of the 
largest manufacturers of canned soups and simi- 
lar products, the walls, floors, and ceilings of 
which were spotless tile — not only for looks, 
but because a tile surface can be washed, and 
sterilized if need be. It is impossible to achieve 
this result in our individual homes ; but our ideal 
of the standardized kitchen fittings must be 
chairs, and tables with straight legs, avoidance 
of crannies and cracks which will gather dirt or 
make a choice breeding place for our friend the 
roach. Open plumbing, tables covered with zinc, 
galvanized iron, or porcelain, are all essential to 
the sanitation of the standardized kitchen. 

[ 58 ] 



STANDARDIZING CONDITIONS 



To summarize, our standardized kitchen must 
have its main equipment placed in the right 
relation to the processes each entails; the small 
equipment of each related group must be hung 
or placed with the larger equipment of which it 
is a part; all working surfaces should be at the 
right height for the worker; all dry supplies, 
pots, utensils, and crockery must be kept in the 
closest relation to the work in which they are 
needed; all shelves and hooks should be at or 
above the waist of the worker, to avoid either 
stooping or reaching; all the furnishings of the 
kitchen, the walls, the floor, the tables and 
chairs should be of a kind to allow perfect 
cleansing; proper and sufiicient light and ventila- 
tion are essential to the success and comfort of 
the work and the worker. 

In the following chapter I want to tell you 
how to choose the right tools for your work. 



[59] 



CHAPTER FOUR 
THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



lERHAPS the reader recalls the cheap old 
story of the Irish servant who left her place be- 
cause she complained that there was hash to 
prepare for breakfast every morning, and she 
had to leave because her teeth wouldn't stand it ! 

I think we would agree that this servant was 
using the wrong tool. Some women to-day are 
still using the wrong tool, although the manu- 
facture and sale of improved equipment for the 
home are among America's foremost industries. 
The modern housekeeper in this country cannot 
complain that improved devices are not offered 
her; every magazine page, thousands of booklets, 
department store and hardware demonstrations, 
put her in touch with tools, labour-savers, and 
household devices of remarkable variety in 
purposes, quality, and construction. 

It would seem as if the increase in the pro- 
[60] 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



duction of labour-savers for the home was in 
direct ratio to the decrease in the number of 
human servants. I beheve this is true; investi- 
gation in foreign countries at the present time 
where service is still cheap shows that not half 
the number of devices are sold abroad as in this 
country. When the American homemaker, be- 
cause of economy and scarcity, is forced to dis- 
pense with service, and do the work herself, 
she turns to the mechanical servant which every 
manufacturer is urging her to buy, and which 
Yankee ingenuity has perfected in a high degree. 
The question before the homemaker is not 
whether she shall use tools, but what tools are 
most efficient for her particular household 
needs .f^ 

Many household devices sold in recent years 
have been made only to sell, although I believe 
firmly that the bulk of those now on the market 
are offered because they are of sterling quality. 
But the first question the homemaker must ask 
herself is not, "Is this a good tool.?" but, "Do 
I actually need it?" I have noticed that many 
women have an apparent mild mania for pur- 

[61] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



chasing tools and pots and pans which they 
don't use. Their pantries are cluttered with 
egg-beaters, cake-turners, fancy jelly moulds, 
and cake-pans which are rarely used. They 
are attracted by the cleverness and cheapness 
of a new device, and buy it at once, with the 
result of a duplication of unused trash. One 
woman laughingly acknowledged, when I found 
six egg-beaters in her kitchen, that her god was 
''Pan." 

In choosing a larger and more expensive equip- 
ment, like a percolator, an electric iron, or a 
cherry-seeder, the homemaker should ask her- 
self the same question, "Do I need it? Will I 
get my investment out of it? " I recall recently 
going through a department store basement and 
looking at equipment and the clerk showed me 
what he called a bean-cutter. It was an amaz- 
ing mechanism, which cut string beans in half 
lengthwise. When I think of the buying of 
any tool my mind reverts to that bean-cutter. 
How many times a year would I have used it? 
And where would I have kept it when not in 
use? The cutter, in a boarding-house or hotel, 

[62 I 




FUEL-SAVERS 

(1) Portable Oven with Window Prevents Loss of Heat 

(2) Device Utilizing One Burner for Baking 

(3) Gasolene Iron with Concentrated Heating Surface 

(4) Tea Kettle and Double Boiler Combined 

(5) Well-Insulated Fuel-Saving Fireless Cooker 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



would doubtless have paid the cost of its invest- 
ment; but in my small family, where string 
beans are confined to a short few weeks' season, 
a bean-cutter would have been dead invest- 
ment, and dead storage. 

Buying any tool should be considered as an 
investment, although not all women look at it 
in this proper way. A manufacturer who pur- 
chases new equipment charges it to ''plant," 
and distributes the expense along a number of 
years. The same view should be taken of an 
investment in a household labour-saver. For 
instance, an electric iron, costing $6 and which 
would last five years, should be reckoned as 
interest on the investment, or about 36 cents a 
year: the depreciation might be 10 per cent, or 
60 cents so that the yearly cost should be esti- 
mated at about 96 cents a year, or less than 2 
cents a week. It is almost certain that the iron 
will pay for this weekly cost, because it is used 
weekly, and will save that amount and more in 
the economy of fuel and labour in the weekly 
ironing. But suppose some other electric device, 
like a waffle-iron costing $10, is bought, and is 

[63] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



used only a few weeks in each season; how many 
years of waffles will it take to make up the in- 
vestment to her? I use this illustration, not 
to knock any particular device, but to show that 
the purchaser must stop and consider if she is 
going to use that particular device often and 
frequently enough to pay for its original cost, 
plus the cost of its maintenance and depreci- 
ation. 

After deciding that for her needs, her size 
family, it will pay her to have a particular tool, 
the homemaker should investigate the tool, and 
see if it is built or made on scientific principles. 
This is particularly necessary with regard to 
washing machines, suction sweepers, iceboxes, 
and equipment in whose construction laws of 
chemistry or physics are involved. Is the 
"dolly" type of washer better than the vacuum 
idea, for clothes .^^ Is it better to have the ice 
at the side or top of the food cabinet.'^ Do the 
bearings or ratchets or insulation of any piece 
of mechanism or equipment comply with right 
laws of construction? Unless she investigates 
these points, reading the particular literature 

[64 1 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



of each device carefully so that she understands 
the why of its operation the homemaker will 
find herself buying tools and devices which may 
be attractive, but which, after a time, won't 
work. 

This point of scientific construction must also 
be noted in regard to the shape of a utensil as 
well as to the mechanism of a device. The old 
high, iron pot was only efficient when it was set 
down in a bed of embers or in the hole of a coal 
stove. Our modern fuels are distributed in a 
flat, broad, and shallow manner, as in the 
burners of the gas stove, oil, gasoline, or electric 
stove. On such broad burners, the tall, high 
coffee-pot or kettle are very inefficient. The 
new method of fuel distribution demands broad, 
shallow utensils whose greatest width is across, 
and not in height. The low egg-poacher, the 
flat-bottomed kettles and pans are all better 
than the old-fashioned models. We only waste 
heat when we use the tall types which do not 
make use of. all the heating surface of the fire 
on which they rest. 

Again, it is most important that the mechan- 
[65] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



ism of its parts and handles be of a comfort- 
able shape to use in the hand. I know several 
devices which were excellent in construction^ 
but which were so uncomfortable to the hand of 
the worker that the manufacturers ceased mak- 
ing them, or changed the construction to conform 
better with comfort. 

Still more important, possibly, is the point 
whether the device can be easily cleaned. An 
appliance should save more time in doing its 
work than is needed by the worker to clean it. 
I know women who will not bother with a de- 
vice like a chopper because they feel it is easier 
to cut certain products with a knife than take 
apart and wash a complicated chopper. Many 
other devices with beaters, nuts, screws, and 
"parts" are often not worth the labour they 
save, because of the extra labour they entail in 
cleaning their complicated mechanism. 

It often happens that apparently excellent 
devices or utensils will, upon use, reveal a defect. 
I have bought frying pans whose surface was so 
uneven that the grease all slipped to one side, 
and it was necessary to put a small support 

[66] 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



under the pan's edge. ** Seconds" are very 
likely to prove unsatisfactory as to shape, and 
it almost never pays to save the 10 or 15 cents 
in their cost from the standard article. Tea- 
pots and pitchers that don't "pour," tins that 
have a bad edge to cut the hand when washed, 
uneven and warped dishes, come under this 
head. 

Next comes the point of determining what 
material, coating, or finish the utensil or tool 
should possess. This should be decided not 
from a matter of taste, but because each material 
and coating has certain qualities. The material 
of the utensil must have resistance to heat, to 
wear, and to certain acids in foods. There is 
also the question of weight and appearance. 
Enamelware of the best kind radiates heat 
readily, and is of good appearance either in 
gray, white, or blue; but it chips readily, and, 
in the poorer grades, is apt to expose large 
patches of the underlying metal, which in com- 
pound with the acids in certain foods may be 
dangerous. Iron heats quickly, radiates quickly, 
is hard to keep clean, and is heavy, although for 

[67 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



frying it is unexcelled. Aluminum utensils 
are very light, and generally have no seams, 
which is an excellent point; they heat more 
slowly than enamel, but retain the heat longer, 
and so are particularly adapted to "fireless" 
methods of cooking. Ordinarily tinned utensils 
are very apt to rust, and become battered soon, 
and it is better to have enamelled or aluminum 
coatings, even in such pieces as the colander 
and dipper. 

After deciding all the above points in regard to 
the utility and practicability of a tool, the beauty 
and attractive design of the tool should be con- 
sidered. The oft-quoted saying of William 
Morris that the home should contain nothing 
that is not at the same time useful and beautiful 
can be carried into the kitchen. The painters 
of Holland, of France, and even of our own 
Colonial days, have given us inspiration for the 
beautiful in our kitchens. It is possible to have 
beautiful pots and pans, casseroles, and crockery 
which are at the same time most eflScient and 
practical. 

After deciding all questions of the shape, 
[68] 




TIME-SAVERS 

(1) A Carafe Which Keeps Beverages Iced Many Hours 

(2) Glass Ice-cream Freezer Which Requires No Turning 

(3) Speedy Egg-beater Designed on the Turbine Principle 

(4) Coffee Pot Permits Making Coffee Hours in Advance 

(5) A Quick Toaster for Oil or Gas Fuels 

(6) An Egg-Boiler That Boils Eggs Just Right 

(7) A Double Pan Which Cooks Two Foods at Once 

(8) Measuring Spoon Set Saves Lifting Different Spoons 

(9) A Colander and Puree Strainer Which Gives Rapid Results 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



scientific construction, need, and material of her 
efficient tool, the homemaker must turn in the 
other direction and determine her relation to the 
tool, rather than its relation to her. That is, 
can she and will she take care of the tool prop- 
erly, once she has bought it? This is the vital 
point in the purchase of any tool, and partic- 
ularly equipment, devices or complicated mech- 
anism in the home. 

It may not be fair to say that half the tools 
purchased are not properly cared for; but to 
any one who has observed how tools are used 
and cared for in the average home, it is distress- 
ing to see how so much splendid equipment and 
mechanism is neglected, and even allowed to 
depreciate, because of lack of care, or because 
of the wrong or unintelligent care. 

First, it is often true that women purchasers 
are ignorant of the scientific principles on which 
their devices are made. Proper oiling of a sew- 
ing machine, or the bearings of a wringer, may 
not be understood; not every woman can get 
the most value out of a food-chopper, because 
she does not care for the knives properly, or 

[69] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



grease the screws with lard; it takes real, scien- 
tific knowledge to run a stove correctly, as to 
the why of drafts, dampers, and flue; often a 
beautiful material, like aluminum, is tarnished 
almost irremediably because an alkali was used 
in the water to wash it; the glaze on casseroles 
and crockery may be unnecessarily cracked 
because the temperatures at which they are put 
in the oven, or sudden changes, from heat to 
cold, are not noticed. The best enamelware is 
chipped because it is placed too suddenly over 
a very hot flame, which causes the metal to 
expand too suddenly, and hence "chip" both 
inner and outer surface; the finest knives and 
carvers are spoiled because they are carelessly 
jumbled in a drawer. 

The efficient tool needs efficient care, and the 
best tool will be but a poor servant if it is poorly 
and unintelligently cared for. The matter of 
care of tools often enters into the problem of 
whether the mistress is willing to purchase 
labour-savers for hired servants. Good tools are 
not always to be trusted in the hands of ser- 
vants who do not understand the principles of 

[70 1 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



their mechanism. Therefore it is the intelHgent 
mistress who does her own work, who can 
make the best use of the modern labour-savers, 
which depend on an understanding of their con- 
struction and upon proper care to be really 
efficient tools. 

In considering any labour-saving device, in 
point of its relation to the worker, she asks her- 
self, "Does this tool save me time.^ Does it 
save me steps. ^ Does it save me labour? Does 
it save fuel.^^" All household devices and tools 
can therefore be grouped under these four 
heads : 

1. Fuel-savers 

2. Step-savers. 

3. Labour-savers. 

4. Time-savers. 

Of course it may be true that any particular 
device covers two or three points, saving both 
time and steps, but this is a convenient classifi- 
cation. 

In considering the expenses of the household, 
and particularly the kitchen, the item that looms 
largest is fuel. It takes coal or oil or gas or 

[71] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



electricity to cook our food. Heat is the most 
costly item in cooking. Now cooking is the 
application of a cooking temperature to food, by 
means of air, water, steam, or metal. It may 
be hot air as in roasting, hot water as in boiling, 
steam as in steaming, or direct contact with a 
heated metal or direct flame as in frying. Some- 
times it is a combination of these processes. 
Cooking is generally done, not by contact with 
the flame or coal, but by the heat generated by 
the flame, which heats the water, the metal, or 
the air which does the real cooking. That is, 
it is the hot water that boils the potato, the 
heated steam which steams it, and the hot air 
which bakes it, and not a direct contact with 
coal or flame. It follows therefore that any 
method that conserves the loss of heat will be 
an efBcient cooking method; any utensil which 
conserves heat, and thus hastens the cooking 
process, will reduce the amount of fuel used, 
and thus be a fuel-saver. 

In a former paragraph on the efficient shape 
of utensils I touched on the point of high- 
shaped pots being inefficient because they do 

[72] 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



not make use of the largest amount of heating 
surface upon which they are placed. I wish to 
emphasize this point again. Now for any boiling 
process it is better to place the utensil over a 
quick, direct flame, and use a low, shallow 
utensil which will cover as much heating sur- 
face as possible. This is true of a boiler, of a 
double boiler, and of any pan in which a liquid 
is heated. 

Steaming and stewing are modifications of 
the boiling process, and it is particularly true 
that a steaming utensil must be broad to ab- 
sorb heat, and to give off a wide surface of steam 
so that the food above the steam may receive 
as much steam as possible. Steamers, poachers, 
stew-pans, etc., should all be broad, low, and 
wide. 

In baking, the food is enclosed and cooked 
by the hot air of an oven. It is, therefore, neces- 
sary that our oven be well insulated to prevent 
the escape of unnecessary heat by radiation. 
Portable ovens should be small and have double 
walls. A glass door in the oven and an oven 
thermometer are necessaries, as opening the 

[73] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



door to "find out if it's done" allows heat to 
escape and retards the cooking process. The 
oven should be placed on or above the waist 
level to relieve the worker from the inefficiency 
of stooping to care for it. 

In roasting, the food is placed in a pan and 
surrounded by the hot air of the oven, which 
dries and cooks out the moisture as it cooks the 
food. Basting is the old-fashioned way of 
trying to save the moisture in the meat, so it 
will not be ''dry." This manner of basting 
is very inefficient, because wasteful of heat and 
of the juices of the food. Better roasting uten- 
sils are made after the "double-roaster" plan, 
which saves heat and labour, and retains the 
juices. In steaming, we have a modification 
of the boiling process, which has the same effect 
as boiling, but which allows far less waste of the 
original food materials. Steam also saves loss 
of heat by evaporation, as it is the evaporating 
water that really cooks the food. All steamers, 
whether the round or square type, are fuel- 
savers, and all utensils for steaming should 
be broad and flat, as in boiling, to absorb the 

[74 1 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



greatest amount of heat from the heating sur- 
face. 

The most modern adaptation of the principle 
of cooking with conserved heat is found in the 
fireless cooker. Some authority has said that 
the aeroplane, the wireless, and the fireless 
are the three greatest inventions of the twen- 
tieth century. Certainly the fireless cooker is 
the greatest of fuel-savers. So many women 
have written to me asking if the fireless will 
*'work," that I wish to explain the fireless idea 
in detail. We know by experiment that we 
can heat a quart of water in a few minutes on 
any stove. But the water will gradually cool, 
unless we keep the fire burning under it. If 
we turn out the fire the cooking or boiling 
stops. Now it is the cold air coming in contact 
with the boiling water that cools the water and 
retards the cooking process. If we can remove 
the boiling water from the air, the water will 
only fall in temperature slowly, and will stay 
heated much longer. Now the fireless cooker 
is built on just this principle of conserving the 
heat, in the heated utensil, away from the air, 

[75 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



SO that loss of heat is prevented, and so that 
cooking is enabled to go on for hours after the 
fire is put out. In a fireless we heat the utensil 
and food for a certain period over a flame, until 
both utensil and food in it are boiling, and the 
food partly cooked. Then we cut off the fire, 
place the boiling utensils and food in an air- 
tight box — the insulated cooker — and the 
cooking proceeds slowly. 

In present types of fireless, we find them 
fitted with soapstone or metal disks just the 
size to cover each utensil. These " radiators" are 
then heated over a flame fire for twenty minutes, 
until of a high temperature; and the " radiator," 
supported by its rack, is then placed directly 
over and above the meat or food to be roasted, 
in its own utensil. At once the whole utensil, 
radiator and roast and all, are locked into the 
air-tight box, and the cooking process continues 
slowly. The Indians used this same idea in 
their famous clambakes, burying the clams be- 
tween hot stones, covered with a bed of seaweed, 
to come back to a delicious hot repast several 
hours later. Since we wish to conserve all the 

[76] 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



heat possible in our utensils before placing in 
the cooker, we should use utensils of aluminum, 
which conserve heat much longer than any other 
metal. The important point in the choice of a 
fireless is its insulation — whether it is of a 
material to withstand radiation for the longest 
time, and whether its "packing" is constructed 
satisfactorily. 

This same principle of conservation of heat is 
used in the Thermos bottle, and the different 
Thermos jugs and carafes. Hot or cold liquid 
is placed in an air-tight receptacle, and corked 
at once. Since no air can reach it, the beverage 
or food retains its original heat or cold for twleve 
hours or more. 

Therefore we can place the fireless at the head 
of our list of fuel-saving utensils. Other fuel- 
saving utensils or devices are: 



" FUEL-SAVERS " 



Fireless cookers. 
Glass door ovens. 
Round or square steamers. 
Double roasting pans. 

[77 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Triplicate or double pots (for one burner). 

Teakettle with cereal inset. 

Thermos bottles and jugs. 

Radiating ''hot plates" for gas and oil-stoves. 

Covered hoods for irons. 

Hooded "hot-plate" ovens (gas or oil). 

Let us see what are the time-savers: 

" TIME-SAVERS " 

Take the food-chopper as found in many 
kitchens. It takes seven minutes to chop a 
pound of meat using a wooden bowl and knife. 
A chopper of family size will chop three pounds 
of meat in one minute. The person using a 
chopping knife lowers and raises his knife as he 
chops, and half the time he is not chopping meat, 
but air. But a meat-chopper is grinding meat 
all of the time, and air none of the time. The 
food-chopper can be classed as a time-saver. 
Following is a list of devices which are chiefly 
time-savers, and which are more or less familiar 
to the modern housekeepers: 

Food choppers. 

Bread mixers. 

[78] 




LABOUR-SAVERS 

(1) Dish Drainer Allows Dishes to Dry Themselves 

(2) Hooded, Long-handled Dust-pan Prevents Stooping 

(3) Stationary Egg-beater Prevents Waste Motion 

(4) Washboiler with Rotary Wheel Saves Rubbing 

(5) Hot Mangle Which Replaces Hand Labour 

(6) Silver Clean Pan Which Does Away with Silver Polishing 

(7) An Efficient, Easily Cleaned Meat-chopper 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 

Cake mixers. 

Washing machines. 

Dish dryers. 

Silver clean pans. 

I have not dwelt on the devices that use elec- 
tricity. It is true that electricity has trans- 
formed our whole modern life, and many people 
look to the electrically equipped home as a 
solution of the servantless household. I am 
enthusiastic in favour of electric equipment, but 
from observation I have found it is, as yet, too 
expensive to supplant hand power in the opera- 
tions of devices in the home. It is also true 
that while city dwellers have come to believe in 
the prevalence of the electric button, electricity 
is actually in use by only a fraction of our popu- 
lation. Until current can be supplied at a cheaper 
rate per kilo than at present, I feel it can- 
not be a great factor in reducing household 
expense, especially for a large or moderate size 
family. 

But there is a long list of splendid electric 
equipment, and the styles and mechanism of 
each piece is being perfected considerably. 

[79 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Such a list would include, at the head: 

Electric irons. 

Electric washing machines, 

Electric sewing machines. 

Electric buffer, and motors. 

Electric vacuum cleaners. 

Toasters. 

Grills. 

Percolators. 

Electric fireless. 

Electric hot plate and stoves. 

Fans, ventilators. 

This also seems to be the place to discuss the 
new fuel of denatured alcohol, and the appli- 
ances now on the market for its use. I have 
tested denatured-alcohol-using devices, and my 
experience is that at present alcohol is too dear 
a fuel to enable an alcohol stove to have more 
than a temporary and emergency use. For 
chafing dishes, percolators, toasters, and such 
uses it is unexcelled, but I doubt its practicality 
for more extended purposes. 

Third comes the large group of labour-savers 
now on the market: 

[80] 



THE EFFICIENT TOOL 



" LABOUR-SAVERS " 



Laundry mangles. 
Vacuum cleaners. 
Loose bottom cake tins. 
Stationary bowls and mixers. 
Long-handle dustpans. 
Dustless mops, dusters. 
Glass ice-cream freezers. 
Improved mop-wringers. 
Clothes sprinklers. 
Great-grip nut crackers. 
Attached colanders. 
Potato ricers. 

Slaw and vegetable cutters. 
Washboilers with spigot outlets. 
Percolating washing devices. 
Wringers. 

Fourth comes the group of step-savers, which 
includes many excellent devices: 

" STEP-SAVERS " 

Kitchen cabinets. 
Wheel trays. 

Self -heating irons (electric — gas — alcohol). 
[81] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 

Elevator iceboxes. 

Lazy Susan trays. 

The efficient tool surrounds the housekeeper 
on every hand, but it depends largely on the 
housewife herself whether she needs it or not; 
whether she understands on what principles it is 
made; whether it is of suitable shape, design, and 
material for the particular purpose; whether it 
is comfortable to use, easy to clean, and a paying 
investment for her particular family; whether 
she takes care of it and uses it intelligently. 



[82 1 



CHAPTER FIVE 

DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 
HOUSEHOLD TASKS 



1 HE principles of scientific management al- 
ways appeal to me as so many rungs of a lad- 
der. You mount the first rung, and then the 
second, and so on, ascending to the top, and each 
successive rung depends on having climbed the 
previous one and set foot on it firmly. In this 
new science of work we first try to "standard- 
ize" each piece of work so that we can do it in 
the shortest time, and with least effort — the 
first rung; then we find out under what gen- 
eral conditions it is best to do our partic- 
ular piece of work — "standardized" kitchen 
arrangement, or rung two; next we find out 
the best and most efficient tool for our 
use, and decide to use it intelligently — rung 
three; and now, having the task, the con- 
ditions of work, and the right tool, the next 

[ 83 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



question is, when shall we do this task and use 
this tool? 

If we had the best egg-beater, and knew just 
how and in how short a time we could make a 
cake, but tried to make it when the groceryman 
would interrupt us to ask the day's order, we 
should be wasting all our skill, because we were 
doing that task at the wrong time. 

The logical and only possible next step after 
acquiring skill in our methods of work is to 
plan the time when we can do that work best 
with relation to other pieces of work. So we 
must schedule our tasks, that we can easily 
dispatch them one after another with as much 
ease as the Twentieth Century Limited flies 
from station to station on its eighteeen-hour 
trip from New York to Chicago. 

When we standardized each of our separate 
tasks, we found, as I showed in Chapter II, that 
it took approximately so long to do each of them, 
and I included a short table of the time it took 
me to perform various home tasks under stand- 
ardized conditions. Every housekeeper can 
make out a similar schedule of the various tasks 

[84] 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 



she must do each day, according to the number 
and size of her family, size of her house, and its 
work. 

Of course my exact plan of running a house on 
a schedule won't fit in every household, because 
I have two babies, a boy of four and a baby 
girl of two, and, naturally, my family's needs 
are different from those of a family with 
older children, or one composed entirely of 
grown-ups. 

In planning my schedule, I began by thinking 
of all the things I had to do every day, then the 
things I had to do but once a week or so. Then 
I timed just how long it took me to wash dishes, 
give the rooms their daily cleaning, make bread, 
put away the laundry, make a cake, and in 
fact, do every home duty. After finding out 
how long it took me to perform each task (with- 
out interruption) I made up both a daily and a 
weekly schedule. 

Here is my weekly schedule: 

Monday — Brush up after Sunday, mend soiled linen, 
soak clothes, market for and prepare Tuesday meals in 
advance. 

[85 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Tuesday — Wash clothes every other week (Mothers' 
Meeting on alternate Tuesday), wipe bathroom and 
kitchen. 

Wednesday — Iron clothes every other week, mend 
and lay away clothes, market for Thursday. 

Thursday — Do new sewing in forenoon (Club every 
other Thursday), wipe bathroom. 

Friday — Do baking and special cooking, clean bed- 
rooms, market for Saturday and Sunday. 

Saturday — Clean living-rooms, bathroom, and kitchen, 
clean silver; generous dinner Saturday night, so only light 
meals Sunday. 

This is a "skeleton" schedule. The washing 
and ironing are done by a woman who comes in 
on two consecutive mornings of the same week, 
as this plan allows for emergencies of rainy days, 
etc., and gives her time to clean my kitchen and 
bathroom — the heavy work. The week that 
alternates with wash week she comes one whole 
Saturday for a thorough cleaning. I make a 
point of marketing three times a week, doing 
the marketing for Sunday on Friday afternoon, 
so that I have an uninterrupted Saturday morn- 
ing for work. We have our Sunday dinner on 
Saturday night, so that I may have Sunday an 
easy day. 

[86] 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 



My planning for a single day may show the 
idea better: 

Rise 6:30 o'clock. 

Breakfast 7 o'clock. 

Dress little boy; scrape and carry dishes to kitchen; 
air beds. 

Baby's bath, 7:30 a. m.; the baby naps from 9 to 
10 A. M. 

Wash dishes, plan meals, cook and prepare for dinner, 
9 to 10 A.M. (Little boy plays on porch or in room.) 

Make beds, sweep, dust, 10 to 11 a. m., while the baby 
is awake. 

Prepare for luncheon, sew half an hour while playing 
with the children, 11 to 12. 

Lunch with both children at noon. Leave luncheon 
dishes unwashed, so as to nap an hour at once with 
children, uninterrupted. 

Dress self and children at 2 p.m.; go for walk, market, 
or make a call. 

Home again, 5 p.m.; give children supper, start own 
supper. Give children bath, put them to bed at six 
o'clock. 

Have own supper alone with father, 6 :30 p. m. 

Wash dishes, and while doing so prepare cereal, fruit, 
and the baby's gruel for the "fireless cooker." Finish 
about 7 : 30 p.m. 

Don't suppose because I plan my work very 
thoroughly that I am never interrupted. I am; 
and it is just because of the many interruptions 

187 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



that every mother is subjected to that I beheve 
we ought to plan our work more definitely, 
to accomplish anything between the interrup- 
tions! 

Every woman with children knows the in- 
numerable calls away from her work. I have 
to pick up David from his bump and "kiss 
it well"; or I leave the baby playing safely only 
to enter a short time later and find that she has 
mysteriously annexed the vaseline tube, and 
is calmly eating it, and squeezing it over her- 
self everywhere, so that she needs a complete 
change of clothes: or I may find her preparing 
to swallow the buttons off a card, one by one, 
or something else equally exciting! 

But you notice that I plan my most difficult 
work when I positively know I will be undis- 
turbed: when the baby is asleep and the boy is 
playing quietly: from 9 to 10 o'clock. During 
this time I make a dessert, or I bake, or do any 
cooking which would be spoiled if I took my 
hand from it even for a moment. When the 
baby is awake, and the boy is becoming fretful 
and hungry, I only dust or do pick-up sewing 

[88] 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 



which would not matter if it were discontinued 
for a few moments. 

Some of my friends laugh at what they call 
my "schedule babies," because their hours for 
sleep and food and play are quite regular. 
But the fact remains that babies are not such a 
care as some women make of them. Most 
normally healthy babies can be trained easily 
to regular habits. My babies, on "schedule" 
feedings, have awakened at the very minute by 
the clock! And, trained as mine are to go to 
bed early, I can hardly keep them awake later 
than the regular hour. Much of the excite- 
ment and fuss from so-called "restless" children 
is due not so much to the children as to the 
mothers themselves and their irregular habits. 

I make it a rule to go out on two afternoons 
of a week, and then I have a young girl come in 
to look after the children. But any other time 
I want to go out I take the children with me. 
This condition forces me to plan my supplies 
and foods in such a way as never to be out of 
things. I could use the telephone, yes, or I 
could have the driver call; but I have found that 

[89] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



these lazy methods cause much waste and over- 
charge, and are one of the direct factors of the 
high cost of hving to-day. 

I take the babies out for a long airing every 
afternoon, and during that time I do my market- 
ing. 

The first thing I do each morning, in order to 
facilitate the "dispatching" of my work, is to 
"take stock" of my food supplies. Then having 
found out the state of my pantry, icebox, and 
larder, I plan my meals in advance. I usually 
plan the meals for the whole day and the next 
day at once, and even if there are minor changes, 
I am more sure of a better balanced menu, 
carefully considered. This planning in ad- 
vance leaves no excuse for forgetting to prepare 
any dish I have planned, or to have the neces- 
sary ingredients in the pantry; and as I can 
thus see several meals ahead at a glance, I can 
prepare more at one period. This saves time 
and often a double handling of utensils. I have 
a separate pad or kitchen "memo" on which I 
jot down lists of needed supplies. I find a 
kitchen notebook indispensable, as through its 

[90] 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 



use and notes I have learned exact quantities 
of materials, and found the exact seasoning, 
etc., of many dishes. A kitchen calendar, with 
large figures, serves as a check on milkman, ice- 
man, etc., as I mark the daily delivery of each 
in the square of the date. 

I prepare all desserts in that morning hour, 
and generally all the first preparing of meats and 
vegetables, so that the utensils and pans used 
in their preparation are washed with the morn- 
ing dishes when I am wearing a work dress, in- 
stead of at night when I have on a clean waist. 
I am a "fireless cooker" devotee because 1 be- 
lieve it saves a tremendous amount of time gen- 
erally lost in "pot- watching," not to mention 
saving in fuel. While washing dishes at night 
I start the cereal for breakfast, the baby's 
gruel, and such fruit as prunes, and even rice 
for luncheon the following noon. 

Because I can't run to the store when out of 
every little thing — even if I approved of that 
slipshod plan — I buy all dry groceries and 
staples in quantities. Of course I save money on 
this wholesale buying; but I do it chiefly because 

[91] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



I can think of no detail in "dispatching" house- 
work so time-losing as to have to stop all house- 
hold machinery to run for a cake of soap, or to 
be unable to make apple sauce because there 
isn't a cup of sugar in the house. Many house- 
keepers say that buying in wholesale quantities 
is extravagant because when one has a large 
supply on hand one is apt to be careless. But 
this is not true. Buying in quantities saves 
money, saves the chance of being out of supplies, 
and the time lost in procuring them. I keep my 
excess groceries stored in a separate pantry, and 
regard it as a "reserve grocery store," so that 
there is no temptation to use them too freely. 

We live in the suburbs, and every one who 
lives as we do knows what it is to have friends 
drop in on you ! When they do come I dislike 
having to rush off to the store, as it takes time 
from their visit and appears as if I hadn't any- 
thing to eat generally. So I have an "emer- 
gency guest shelf." This contains such supplies 
as a jar of fruit, a bottle each of olives, pickles, 
extract of beef and malted milk, a small jar of 
nut meats, a can of salmon, crab meat or sar- 

[92] 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 



dines, a can of soup — all such as can be changed 
by any housewife into a tasty "emergency 
luncheon" or an impromptu tea. I never touch 
this shelf except for guests, and replenish it 
when necessary. 

In a following chapter I wish to discuss 
methods of economical buying, and show how 
the housewife can be the real ** purchasing 
agent" of her business. 

Although I have written out and hung in my 
kitchen the above general schedule of each day's 
work, I often have special tasks to do, which I 
must squeeze in some way, and which I am apt 
to forget. So I have borrowed a little device 
from my husband's office, which is very helpful. 
It is called a " visible index " and is made by 
slipping several 3x5 inch filing cards — one a 
little higher than the other — on a small strip of 
metal. Each card recalls some work or special 
matter I must attend to, and cards may be 
added or removed easily. 

I have done household tasks under the old 
way and under the new system of "dispatching," 
and I can unhesitatingly say that the old way 

[93] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



is the harder and more conducive to "nerves." 
I think it is not because each household task is 
hard that many women find themselves fa- 
tigued; but that their work is poorly planned — 
not "dispatched," so that when they come to 
the task they have less time for it than is 
necessary, and consequently they waste more 
energy on it in order to get it done in this hur- 
ried time. 

If the reader will refer to the six factors of in- 
efficiency in household tasks, it will be seen that 
several of them are directly due to poorly 
planned work done at the wrong time. When 
work is begun at a time when some other task 
will interrupt, the former task has to be brushed 
aside, and practically all the energy that went 
into commencing the task is lost; then, too, 
energy is lost merely in changing from task to 
task; poorly planned work results in too much 
changing, and hence too much wasted vitality. 
Again, without a definite schedule, the worker 
has to stop at the end of each task, and ask her- 
self, "What shall I do next?" Just this 
stopping and questioning involves energy and 

[94] 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 



decisions, which it is totally unnecessary to 
make when a definite daily schedule is laid out. 

For instance, suppose I wash my breakfast 
dishes, and then, without a schedule, stop and 
consider what I shall do? — make the beds, 
fill the lamps, or clean the bathroom? I have 
to think that all out before I can proceed, and it 
is probable that, in the hurried decision, I will 
decide to do the bathroom, when the lamps 
should have been the next task in point of 
efficiency. With a schedule there is no such 
hesitation and loss of energy. After finishing 
the dishes, I air the beds, and then I dust, and 
so one thing moves harnioniously into the other, 
and 1 am saved all the fatigue of making con- 
stant decisions about what I must do next. 

Right here comes in the little psychological 
point of habit: if I never know just what task 
I am going to take up next, I never acquire 
smoothness in the way I work, either mentally 
or in the task itself. But working after a 
definite plan permits the habit of smooth work 
to grow, and it becomes much easier (and 
hence without strain) to work and do my tasks. 

[95 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



The working out of the proper arrangement 
of my kitchen is only a means to proper '' dis- 
patching" of both processes of preparing and 
clearing away a meal. 

I did not dwell on it at that point, but if the 
arrangement of my model kitchen is referred 
to it will be seen that my kitchen is so 
arranged that there is a definite ''dispatching" 
of the whole preparation of the meal. That 
is, I have a definite way of progressing — of 
''routing" materials from pantry to dining- 
room. 

" DISPATCHING " DINNER 

1. Materials taken from pantry and icebox. 

2. Prepared, beaten or cleaned on board of cabinet 

to right of icebox. 

3. Cooked on stove to right of cabinet. 

4. Laid on serving table (on platters and dishes) to 

right of stove. 

5. Piled on wheeltray and sent at once to table in 

dining-room. 

6. Soiled utensils put to soak; table straightened; 

needless materials and utensils laid away. 

RETURN "dispatching" 

1. Soiled dishes placed on tray and wheeled to sink- 
table to right of sink. 
[96 1 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 



2. Left-over foods placed in pantry or icebox. 

3. Dishes washed; pans and utensils washed; laid on 

shelves to left of sink. 

Successful dispatching of work depends defi- 
nitely on the proper arrangement of larger 
equipment, as in the kitchen, and of proper 
arrangement of all needed utensils and food 
materials; it depends on having a definite place 
for every utensil or tool so that no time is lost 
looking for things; all materials must be at 
hand before the work is begun; and it consists 
particularly in grouping processes that are re- 
lated, and doing them together, rather than 
doing first one portion of a task, stopping, and 
commencing some unrelated portion. 

This latter point in dispatching is clearly shown 
in the methods used in sewing. 

I make my children's clothes, although I buy 
my own clothing ready made. I can't afford 
a really good dressmaker. Mothers have little 
time for "fittings" anyway. But I economize 
on the babies' outfits because I find that well- 
made garments for little tots are higher priced, 
proportionally, than those for grown-ups. I 

[97] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



make use of the principle of ''dispatching" my 
sewing, just as they do in a garment factory. 
My plan is something like this: 

I buy in as large quantities as possible, choosing such 
materials as will be suitable for both children, as gingham, 
Indian Head, unbleached linen, etc. This plan would be 
very good for a family of three or four children where the 
garments could be made of similar material, each rendered 
individual by different trimming. 

I purchase all thread, puis, and buttons in quantities, 
and stick to similar patterns in buttons, so there will be 
fewer replacements. Bias lawn binding is one of my 
staples for finishing strongly and quickly. 

Before beginning work I see that the machine is oiled, 
that the proper needles are inserted, and that my pattern, 
materials, inch measure, and all findings are at hand. 

Next I cut everything of one kind at once: six rompers, 
three petticoats, or whatever I am making. 

In stitching I do first the back seams, or any pieces 
requiring buttonholes, so that they may be picked up 
later in odd moments when I am watching the babies, 
talking to callers, etc. 

Then I stitch on the machine everything that can be 
run without basting, turning, or hand pressing. 

I turn French seams, sleeves, or whatever can be 
stitched without basting or gathering, and run them 
on the machine. 

I baste right through the pile, at one sitting, all hems, 
sleeve-facings, etc. 

I stitch through the same pile at once. 

[98] 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 



I do hand finishing at odd times when watching the 
babies, or I leave it for Aunt Bertha when she comes 
to spend the day and wants to help me a bit. 

I put trimming on by machine; or more frequently 
by hand, as I prefer to do it by hand while caring for the 
babies, rather than sit a longer time at the machine. 

I know that some mothers will rise up and say 
that it is too much for them to say how or when 
they will do any part of the sewing, and that 
they can make a better dinner than I without 
dispatching it step by step. I do not doubt 
that they will sew as well or better, and serve a 
more successful dinner; the object of "dispatch- 
ing" is not the quality of the product so much 
as the ease, and reduced labour with which any 
process is effected. I have been served the 
most perfect dinners, and yet, through improp- 
erly arranged equipment, and no definite plan 
of work, the hostess was all ''tired out" before 
the meal began, and was not able to enjoy her 
own delicious cooking. 

Some women may also say that because I do 
sewing and other tasks in this apparently for- 
mal manner, that I am reducing them to bare 
mechanical processes, and robbing them of 

[99 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



their beauty and that " home touch" which has 
been praised for ages. That is just what I do 
not do. I put into them all the inspiration and 
love which any task must receive to be other 
than mere factory work. So many women say, 
"I don't want to run my home like an office or 
a factory. I want it to be a home, I hate sys- 
tem and methods, and all this efiiciency idea 
seems to be too mechanical and formal for me to 
follow." 

But these same women and hosts of others 
are continually talking about home drudgery. 
If they have been doing all these home tasks 
all these centuries in such a beautiful and poetic 
way, why is it that women are fleeing from house- 
work into professions and outside work.^^ Why 
are they living lazily in cooperative apart- 
ments, eating delicatessen meals, and refusing 
to assume the burdens of motherhood. ^^ 

"Motherliness" and "hominess" in the past 
usually have meant drudgery. True and better 
homemaking will come from a higher realiza- 
tion of the tremendous possibilities of the home- 
maker who uses scientific methods instead of 

[100] 



DISPATCHING AND SCHEDULING 

rule-of -thumb. If housework is drudgery to a 
woman it is only because that woman refuses 
to accept the efficient methods and improved 
equipment offered her on every hand. It is 
just as stimulating to bake a sponge cake on a 
six-minute schedule as it is to monotonously 
address envelopes for three hours in a downtown 
office: it is just as interesting and as great a test 
of cleverness to "dispatch" a six-course dinner 
as it is to make hammered brass or teach a 
graded school. Housework, the science of home- 
making and motherhood, if followed out on an 
efficient plan, can be the most glorious career 
open to any woman — one that will not stul- 
tify nor degrade, but which offers her pecuhar 
talents their widest and most varied scope. 



[101] 



CHAPTER SIX 

THE HOUSEWIFE AS PURCHASING 
AGENT 



r IFTY years ago about 68 per cent, of the 
population of America lived in the country; 
most of the industries of meat-curing, canning, or 
"jarring," the making of clothing, soap, and 
textiles were carried on within the home. The 
housewife supplied with her own hands the 
bulk of what her family ate, used, or wore. 

At the present day these conditions are re- 
versed, and about 65 per cent, of our people are 
congested in cities; the "food factory" has taken 
the place of home canning and food preparation; 
meat-curing is in the hands of the packers; the 
manufacture of ready-made clothing is astound- 
ing in its extent; even the milk and egg supply 
is handled by scientific dairies and the commis- 
sion man. 

With these changes in the economic handling 
[102] 



HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 



of the needs of the home has come an immense 
change in our standards of hving. Times are 
*' easier," more luxuries are manufactured and 
widely distributed among the bulk of the 
people. Our menu offers more variety, many 
canned delicacies are now seen on every table, 
and it is difficult to distinguish the shopgirl from 
the woman of means by dress alone. 

Since industry has become specialized, and 
all the tasks of which woman has been the guar- 
dian in the home for ages have been taken out 
of her hands, it would seem as if the modern 
housewife is bereft of her occupations, and that 
she no longer is responsible for her family's 
needs. But a closer examination of the facts 
reveals that the modern housewife has been 
forced by these industrial and economic changes 
into even a more responsible position, that of 
spender and buyer — she has become the pur- 
chasing agent of the home and of society. It 
took manual labour and skill to supply 
the needs of her family with her own hands 
fifty years ago; but it takes more thought 
and intelligence to purchase for the needs of 

[103 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



her family by wise expenditure at the present 
day. 

Buying is a science, and hke any other science 
it is based on knowledge. In becoming the 
purchasing agent of her family the modern 
housewife must know. First she must know 
real values in life and decide what standards she 
wishes her family to maintain. It is true that 
false standards of living, with extravagance in 
dress, food, and shelter, are to blame for much of 
our modern ills. Families whose incomes do 
not warrant it ape the manners and amuse- 
ments and furnishings of others, and are often 
led into debt or speculation in order to maintain 
this fictitious mode of life. It rests with the 
homemaker to decide for a simple, sincere 
standard of living. Then, with this standard 
fixed in mind, she can more satisfactorily expend 
wisely and successfully for the various items of 
her family's needs. 

Food is the largest item in the family budget. 
As purchasing agent the housewife must know 
food values, and what foods possess these values. 
Something of the principles of nutrition, and 

r 104 1 



HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 

the part each kind of food plays in building the 
human body, should be hers. If she does not 
know that round steak at 20 cents a pound pos- 
sesses as much nutriment as the porterhouse at 
26 cents, she will not expend wisely or eco- 
nomically. She should know something of the 
idea of a "balanced meal," and what foods will 
give it; the place of milk, fruit, and eggs in the 
diet; what are healthful meat substitutes, and 
the nourishment of various kinds of breads, 
vegetables, and cereals. This knowledge will 
enable her to buy foods intelligently, so that her 
family can be well nourished with a varied diet 
at a moderate expense. "Competent counsel" 
for the housewife in this matter can be found in 
the pages of the best women's pubHcations, 
which retain experts in domestic science to show 
her how to cook and market economically, and 
in the so-called Farmers' Bulletins, like Nos. 391 
142, 128, sent free from the Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

The next largest item in the budget is cloth- 
ing. I think that while many even inexperi- 
enced women are intelligent on food matters, 

[ 105 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



a greater number are unskilled in a knowledge of 
textiles, and how to buy them. The purchasing 
agent for her family's clothing will know what 
materials wear best for certain purposes; what 
colours will fade; how to tell woollen from 
"shoddy"; how to buy flannels for the baby, 
stockings and shoes for the boy; why there is not 
such a fabric as "linen suiting" at 15 cents a yard; 
how to tell if silk is weighted; if excess starch has 
been used as a filler; if the material has imper- 
fections in the weave; how to estimate the "all- 
wool" dress goods before she buys; and by 
a hundred details arm herself with accurate 
knowledge, so that in this matter of textiles 
she may clothe her family with materials and 
garments that will wash, hold their shape and 
not fade. 

In the choice of furnishings the housewife 
has a great opportunity for wise buying. We 
in America seem to possess a mania for a pro- 
fusion of furnishings, utensils, and bric-a-brac. 
The wise housewife will know that the fewer 
the furnishings the less the work devolving 
upon her; that one or two well-made pieces of 

[ 106 1 



HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 



furniture are to be preferred to a suite of cheap 
quality; that utensils must be chosen for their 
wearing quality, shape, and ease in cleaning; 
that ornaments should be few, and of simple 
lines. Too much money is wasted in buying 
poorly made small articles which have neither 
use, nor beauty, but which only cause disorder 
and require care. In the buying of furnishings, 
the housewife must regard only the essentials, 
and reject unsatisfactory, poorly made, or a pro- 
fusion of objects and furnishings. 

Fifty years ago the housewife who made apple 
butter was sure that it was pure and clean, be- 
cause it was made in her own kitchen. To-day 
the housewife will have to read the label on her 
apple butter to see that it is not artificially 
coloured, prepared with glucose, and made in 
some factory where unsanitary conditions pre- 
vail. Thus a new responsibility in the buying 
of foods confronts the home purchasing agent: 
she must be sure of the excellence and purity of 
the manufactured brands she buys; she must 
read the labels and weights marked on the 
packages she purchases; she must demand that 

[ 107 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



her packages and all goods are true to weight 
or measure so that she does not suffer from the 
modern " short- weight" evil which steals the 
pennies from her pocket. In short, she must 
protect herself and family by every means 
against adulteration, fraud, short-weight, and 
unsanitary handling of food products. 

No efficient housewife will be without a set of 
standard measures and a scale in her own 
kitchen upon which she can weigh all goods 
after delivery; she can closely watch the dealers 
as they weigh articles before her; she can de- 
mand, if she knows the weight and measure laws 
of her state, that her bushel of potatoes be a 
definite number of pounds, and not merely 
a "bag" of potatoes; and that other food prod- 
ucts conform to certain legal standards, which, 
however, local dealers do not always observe; 
she can examine the various "quart" bottles, 
to see if they measure true, or whether a little 
ingrowing bulb of glass at the bottom does not 
rob them of several gills; all package goods 
should be weighed, to see if they are net weight 
or not, and to determine if the difference in 

[108 1 



HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 



price of the package and bulk article of the same 
kind is warranted by the increased cleanliness 
of the former; the "trimmings" should be cour- 
teously required of the butcher, and the bone 
from the mutton roast for which she paid 22 
cents a pound; in all weighing and measuring, 
let the housewife remember that its purpose is 
not as much to detect dishonesty, as to encourage 
honesty. 

A strenuous campaign is constantly being 
waged for purity in our canned and manu- 
factured food products, by numbers of organized 
workers, and by groups of housewives all over 
the country. The reputable manufacturers are 
banded with them in this purpose; but it is 
also true that many unscrupulous manufacturers 
are desirous of palming off products made under 
unsanitary conditions, and prepared with pre- 
servatives. ''Read the label '^ should be the 
housewife's slogan. Notice particularly the 
fine "print: "Prepared with benzoate of soda," 
or "contains salicylic acid," "artificially col- 
oured"; or the words "sulphate of copper," 
or, particularly, the word ''compound '' which 

[ 109 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



always means adulteration. In articles like 
jellies, pickles, and catsups, watch for the use 
of substitute sugars and preservatives; in 
flavouring extracts watch for artificial flavours 
of acetanilid, or ethyl, in prepared jelly powders 
and candies beware of coal-tar dyes; ground 
spices are adulterated with starch and plaster; 
canned peas and beans are frequently coloured 
with sulphate of copper. 

The housewife's weapon against impurity in 
manufactured goods is to accept only known and 
well-advertised brands of the goods she needs. 
Do not ask for "a can of tomatoes," but ask for 
a brand whose manufacturer is backing his 
product by the expenditure of millions of dol- 
lars, because he knows it is pure, and who will 
give you the "money-back guarantee" if you are 
not satisfied. 

It is the largest manufacturers of standard, 
well-advertised articles who are on the right 
side of the food fence, and who are working with 
the housewife for better food conditions, and 
who could not afford to put out an inferior ar- 
ticle, because their whole reputation is at stake. 

[ no ] 



HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 



It is the small unknown maker who is afraid 
to put his name on a can of tomatoes, and say it 
is "Smith's tomatoes"; instead he calls it the 
''Peerless," or something like that, and will 
put out an unworthy product not bearing his 
name because you can't reach him if the product 
is unsatisfactory. The housewife must support 
the best manufacturers if she wants to encour- 
age reliability, honesty, and purity in manu- 
factured food products. 

Then the purchasing agent will see that the 
goods she buys are made and sold under sani- 
tary conditions. Nutmeats which are picked 
out by the children of Italians in a dark tene- 
ment where the family washing is done alongside 
the table will not be fit food for her family; 
children's clothes, made in similar tenements, 
under conditions of filth, are not fit for her 
children to wear. Buy from a reputable firm, 
and insist on the label on the inside of ready- 
made clothes stating that the garment has 
been made under sanitary conditions. De- 
mand that your grocer keep his butter and 
cheese under glass, and that the clerk doesn't 

[111] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



sweep out the store when the crackers are lying 
open; insist that butchers have netting over the 
meat, and that such a thing as "loose milk" shall 
be unknown in your community, and that only 
wrapped bread be delivered by the driver who 
also takes care of his horse. 

The buying of this modern purchasing agent 
will not be haphazard and slipshod. Besides 
insisting on all the points of weight, sanitation, 
and purity, the housewife will estimate carefully 
what the needs of her family will be for a given 
time. She will know that it is more economical 
to buy in quantities, if the quantity is based on 
actual estimate. Laundry soap costs 5 cents a 
bar singly, but comes seven bars or six bars for 
25 cents, or a saving of nearly 10 to 15 cents on a 
dozen bars, besides the saving that comes from 
having the soap harden well before use. I 
know I use so many cans of vegetables or fruits 
a month, so I order by the dozen and make a 
saving of 3 or 4 cents on each can. I have worked 
out for my family some simple estimate of the 
time various articles last me, and with this fairly 
accurate list, I can buy more intelligently and 

[ in ] 



HOUSEWIFE, PURCHASING AGENT 



economically, often making a large order on which 
the grocer will give me a generous cash discount. 



SUPPLIES LASTING A FAMILY OF FOUR — 

(two adults — TWO children) 

ARTICLE QUANTITY TIME 

Coffee i Pound 1 Week 

Tea i Pound 1 Week 

Sugar 4 Pounds 1 Week 

Flour 3i Pounds 1 Week 

Cornstarch .... 1 Package 2 Weeks 

Cereal 3 Packages 1 Week 

Rice 1 Pound 1 Week 

Spaghetti § Pound Each Meal 

Cocoa J-Pound Box 3 Weeks 

Canned Fruit .... 2 Cans 1 Week 

Canned Vegetables . . 2 Cans 1 Week 

Tapioca 1 Package 1 Week 

Butter 2J or 3 Pounds 1 Week 

Lard 1 Pound 2 Weeks 

Potatoes (in winter) . 1 Bushel 1 Month 

Soap, Laundry ... 2 Cakes 1 Week 

Soap, Toilet .... 2 Cakes 1 Month 

Salmon 2 Cans 1 Month 

Sardines 2 Cans 1 Month 

Codfish Flakes or Crab 

Meat 2 Cans 1 Month 

With this quite approximate list before me I 
can very accurately make out orders and save 
considerably. 

[113] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Finally, the purchasing agent will use intel- 
ligent care in the storage of her supplies, once 
she has bought them. She will know at what 
temperatures best to store her vegetables and 
fruit; that flour and other cereals should be in a 
cool place; that raisins and cocoanut shrivel 
when opened; that heat germinates weevils 
and other pests; that canned goods should be 
emptied as soon as opened; that the excellence 
of many package goods is destroyed by the care- 
less way in which they are left exposed to dirt 
and air. 

The modern housewife will realize that the 
burden of supplying her family has not been 
taken out of her hand by modern industrial 
conditions; but that, instead, in becoming the 
purchasing agent of her family and society, she 
has larger responsibilities calling for trained in- 
telligence, knowledge, and constant vigilance. 



[114] 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF HOUSE 
HOLD FINANCES 



1 HAVE for some time been connected with a 
large women's publication to correspond with 
their readers on home matters, answering ques- 
tions of new methods of work, new devices and 
tools for the home, and helping, if I could, to 
solve the "perplexing problems" of my many 
correspondents. The question which was put 
to me the greatest number of times was not 
how should they do housework, or what tool 
should they use, but how could they manage their 
household finances! 

Time and again I have received long letters 
asking for detailed help, telling the income, the 
number in the family, what must be paid for 
rent, what they wished to save, and ending with, 
"Won't you please tell me how to manage 
better?" 

[115] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



This question of the management of the house- 
hold finances is the most vital in the running of 
the home, and is often deeply concerned in the 
happy relation of husband and wife. This is 
the one point in which the husband and wife 
must "pull together." No really successful 
management of the home can result if both 
husband and wife do not equally and mutually 
agree as to the distribution of their finances. 
The homemaker must understand definitely 
what the income is; the income-earner must 
know definitely how that income is disbursed, 
and both of them must have the same standards 
in view, and the same ideal or motive toward 
which to save. 

It is impossible to achieve economy and success 
if the wife is saving in her distribution of the 
income, while the husband spends an undue 
share on personal extravagance; vice versa, 
it is impossible for a husband to save and attain 
business success with a wife who spends fool- 
ishly. The first step, then, is for both parties 
to clearly understand the ideals toward which 
they are working, and to mutually agree upon 

[ 116 ] 



HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 



their standards of living, and what they can 
afford to expend for each item of the family 
budget. 

In examining the family budget we find it 
must include such expenses as shelter, food, 
clothes, and a large group of operating expenses 
like service, fuel, carfare, telephone, station- 
ery; it must also cover emergencies like doctor 
and sickness, and the item of savings, which 
may be insurance, or payments on property. 
The per cent, of the income which must be given 
to each of these items varies with the income, 
but the general figures of rent 20 per cent., food 
25 per cent., clothes 20 per cent., 15 per cent., 
for operating expenses and 20 per cent, for 
savings, charity, and the "higher life," is an 
accepted division on a salary of $1000-$2000. 

It is an excellent plan, therefore, to make up 
in advance a family "budget," apportioning the 
income roughly for each item, depending on the 
salary, social station, size of family, etc., etc., 
of the particular case. After apportioning the 
income in this way, both parties should insist 
on keeping within these figures. Now just how 

[117] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



shall this be done, and how can this ''budget" 
be estimated in the first place? 

No person can estimate the cost of running 
any business unless he has figures and receipts 
and cash records on which to base it. No per- 
son can approximate the expenditure of one 
year until he has the figures of the expenditure 
of the previous year on which to base it. It is 
necessary at the outset of running any business 
— in this case the home — to keep records of 
income received and income expended, so that 
an estimate for the following year can be made, 
and a more just understanding be had of all ex- 
penditure, and the items on which it was made. 

It is not difiicult, but very simple, to "keep 
accounts" in some form. For the beginner I 
suggest that a small ruled account book be 
purchased (costing from 25 to 75 cents) which 
has spaces for such general items as meat, 
groceries, fuel, laundry, service, amusements, 
etc., and spaces for cash received, cash expended, 
and a balance column. This book has a double- 
page of these columns for each month, a line 
for each day. 

[118] 



HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 



First save all sales-slips, receipted bills, and, 
when shopping, jot down on your memoranda 
the cost of each general item, such as fruit. It 
is not necessary to say, ''cauliflower, 20 cents," 
''onions 1 cent" — merely the total of that 
item, fruit. Then every other day, or the same 
day if convenient, enter these small amounts in 
the proper column in your book. Ice or milk bills 
paid weekly, rent or insurance paid monthly, 
should all be entered in the proper column; it is 
sometimes better to lump items under "station- 
ery," or to credit the father with a lump sum 
which must cover his carfare, lunch, and in- 
cidentals. At the end of every week it should 
be convenient to total the columns, and make 
a balance; or in many cases it is just as efficient 
to total the expenses only monthly, depending 
greatly on whether the bills are paid often, or at 
the end of the month. This total amount of 
expenditure, subtracted from the cash received 
at the beginning of the month, should equal the 
cash on hand at the end of the month — and 
the hard task of "keeping accounts" is per- 
formed. The surplus each month may be cred- 

[119] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



ited to the following month, or put toward a 
savings or sinking fund for emergency use. 
Keeping accounts in this form brings to light 
several points: 

It will tell you just what you spent every penny for; 

It will compare two items for you at a glance, and you 
can see if it is the *'meat" or the "grocery" item that is 
pulHng up your bills; 

It will compare any one item with the total expense, 
so that you can determine whether you are not spending 
too much for this item, as compared with your whole 
income; 

It will tell you what items are your biggest drain; 

It will compare all the items this month with the 
same items last month, so that you can instantly find out 
the cause of any increase or change; 

It will tell you the "average" of each item of your 
expense, month by month, so that you can quite exactly 
estimate the steady "average" of any of the regular 
"operating expense," and can thus accurately estimate 
your next "budget"; 

It will show you just where you can retrench easiest; 

It will show where small "leaks" are in your business, 
that you never suspected; 

It will tell you anything you want to know about your 
home, if you keep it accurately, and allow it to do so. 

I hear some woman say, ''Oh, but my hus- 
band pays the lodge and the insurance and the 

[no] 



HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 



rent, and I pay the food and clothes, and house 
expenses, and won't that confuse keeping the 
account?" Certainly not; it happens that you, 
the homemaker, are keeping the account, be- 
cause it is more convenient to do so; but items 
that the husband spends should be written in 
the account book as well as those spent by the 
wife. "My husband won't take care of every 
little penny," says another. Then mutually 
arrange that he shall take a certain sum each 
week or month for his carfare, lunch, and in- 
cidentals, and put that sum on the book and let 
the few remaining pennies be unitemized. 

"But I get an allowance to run the house on, 
and have to pay for my clothes from this," 
writes another. Personally I am much opposed 
to any kind of allowance system for either the 
homemaker or the wage-earner. The business of 
homemaking is too big and splendid between 
two big and splendid persons to be subject to 
any petty allowance system. I regard running 
the home as I regard running any business — 
with the wage-earner as senior partner, and the 
homemaker as junior partner. Both must have 

[ 121 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



the same ideals of what they are running that 
business for, and what they wish to save. They 
must both mutually decide how much they are 
going to spend, and for what they are going to 
spend it. The income should be considered as a 
common fund, from which either and both may 
draw out necessary funds for current expenses 
in a dignified way. The surplus, after both have 
supplied their common needs, should be placed 
in some form of savings or ''sinking" fund 
toward the proverbial rainy day, and for use 
when the ordinary salary is not sufficient, as at 
times when there is a heavy drain of buying 
clothes for winter. If the wife needs money for 
personal use, let her take it from their common 
income; if the husband has needs, let him draw 
on the common income. What could be simpler.? 
Why should there arise any comphcations, if 
both think enough of each other, and keenly 
feel the aims to which they are both striving? 
If I am keenly interested in saving for a piece 
of property — which I shall share — why should 
I spend fooUshly on myself? If my husband is 
eager to start an educational fund for our chil- 

[122] 



HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 



dren, will he fritter his money away on personal 
luxuries? 

The reason that I am so opposed to a per- 
sonal "allowance" for the wife is that I cannot 
imagine any business in which the senior partner 
would hand a small lump of money to the 
junior partner and say, "Here, John, is some 
money for you ; get some togs with it." Such an 
attitude would be undignified and compromising. 
The junior partner, like the senior partner, has a 
right to draw on the business for his needful 
expenditures; and neither partner will be selfish 
if they think of the business — the home — and 
what they want to do for it. That is why there 
is no stimulus so great, or a tie that binds both 
partners together more closely, than a common 
object, like paying for a home, a piece of prop- 
erty, making a school fund, or other common 
purpose. I have not entered into a detailed 
discussion of the "budget" because it has been 
discussed and thrashed out on every side. The 
needs of every family vary because of locality, 
profession, and social standards, so that it is 
always a matter of the individual case. A par- 

[ 123 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



ticular budget depends on a particular fam- 
ily, and the experience of other families can 
only be taken as suggestions. Every family 
must decide the divisions of its income for 
its particular needs. The question is, how 
little can I spend and still live comfortably.^ 
"Account keeping," and the other sugges- 
tions I have given will assist, no matter 
what the family be in size, or standards or 
locality. 

In managing her finances in a scientific way, 
the homemaker will, first, keep account of her 
expenditures; she will pay cash, as cash is 
cheapest, and bills which are allowed to hang 
develop errors which cannot be rectified with 
the ease that they can be detected in a 
weekly bill; she will check up all bills care- 
fully, to avoid error: she will keep receipts in 
accurate form, and all important receipts for a 
year at least; she will live on less than her in- 
come, and save, in partnership with her hus- 
band, for a common object; she will not incur 
debt, or buy ''on time," where she would have 
to pay an inflated value, and where it is morally 

[124] 



HOUSEHOLD FINANCES 



weakening to use an article for which she has 
not paid. 

In the chapter on^ReHable Records," I wish to 
show how these accounts and receipts may be 
kept in a convenient and compact form, to which 
the homemaker can readily refer. 



v 



[125] 



CHAPTER EIGHT 

RELIABLE RECORDS IN THE HOUSE- 
HOLD 



riow will it be possible for the homemaker to 
develop the next rung in the principle of effi- 
ciency — that of "adequate," ''immediate," and 
** reliable" records? 

I am not a business woman, but I have always 
been impressed by the system and orderliness 
with which business men preserve their data 
and information. Rows of filing cabinets, in- 
dexed tabs, drawers of little cards on which is 
written what, when, and how much John Jones 
bought or sold ; large, roomy envelopes for clip- 
pings, binders and folders of different styles — 
how very well and how carefully the ''records" 
of every office, factory, and store are kept, so 
that the needed information can be brought to 
hand at once. This information may be the 
memoranda of a sale of goods, or an order to the 

f 126 1 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



shipping clerk, or the receipt for thousands of 
dollars' worth of raw material. If the president 
needs it, there the original paper Ues in the 
record file; and probably there are six or more 
carbons of the original paper (in many cases) 
which six other persons have in their files as 
duplicates. The record is "adequate" of the 
matter in hand; it is, we suppose, a true or 
"reliable" statement of the facts, and, most 
important, it is "immediate" because it is in 
just the right place, and the place where every 
party concerned expects it to be. 

In considering my home as a business, I 
found that I, too, had records which I should 
make, "reliable," "accurate," and "immediate." 
There were sales checks from the butcher, gas 
and electric receipts, cards of professional trades- 
people, addresses of my friends. How should 
I take care of them in an efficient manner .^^ 

I dislike "system" as much as any woman 
born, and the last thing I really am is a "system 
fiend." But I found finally I just couldn't 
afford to waste the time and nervous force 
usually spent in putting away, hunting for and 

[ 127 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



hauling things out of corners to find just the 
right thing. 

I used to keep accounts in one book and ad- 
dresses in another book, and I pasted recipes 
here and there and kept chppings poked away in 
my desk. I tried it out in this shpshod manner 
for some time and then I gave it up. I decided 
that if my husband and other men used modern 
fihng systems and cards in their offices I could 
do the same in my business of homemaking. 

I finally worked out what my husband calls 
my **time-and-worry-saving family cabinet." I 
bought a drawer, illustrated herewith, of 3 by 5 
inch filing cards. The drawer will hold a thou- 
sand cards costing about 75 cents. I divided 
the cards under subheads which I will classify 
later, and which, of course, must depend upon 
the needs of the family. I keep this drawer on 
the top of my desk, where I can use it every day, 
and when you see how much information is 
packed away into that little drawer fifteen inches 
long I think you will be surprised. 

"Isn't this card filing really very fussy?" 
asked a friend of mine one day. "Doesn't it 

[ns] 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



take too long to write everything down in such 
detail?" 

I asked her this: ''Does it take as long to 
write on a card that David's red woollen cap, 
sweater, and mittens are in the package at the 
bottom-right of the cedar chest, as it does to pull 
out all the other bundles first and have to pin 
them back, or else forget that you put them in 
the chest at all, and have to look in one trunk, 
three closets, and a window-seat before you 
remember that they were in the chest after all? " 

Now my filing system, or any other sys- 
tematic and accurate method of keeping home 
records, saves motion, time, and money. 

I believe in account books as far as they go, 
and it certainly is better to keep accounts in 
book form rather than not at all. Only notice 
that bound books are never ruled just to suit 
your needs. Then when one book is filled you 
have to buy another. 

With cards there is no such thing. If you 
"muss up" something you simply throw the 
card away without spoiling a whole page. And 
you don't have to write very fine or use a large 

[129] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



book. With these cards you simply take out 
the card of the particular class of thing you want 
and write on it. You may need several cards for 
one class, or only one, and you can keep adding as 
much as you wish. A card system expands ex- 
actly with your needs, and there is no renewal. 

Then think of the many kinds of things you 
can keep record of in one place. You think 
you put the address of that dyeing concern in 
the "red" memorandum book, but you really 
put it in the "black" memorandum book; and 
you don't find it out until you have looked 
through the "red" book twice and worried for 
fear you'd lost it! 

Let me give you the separate divisions of the 
drawer as I have arranged it. Your needs 
may not be so large, but on the other hand 
they may be much larger. This is the cabinet 
in detail, and just see what an all-round servant 
I make of it: 

1. HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS 

Subdivided by months, and with a yearly "recapitu- 
lation." Separate cards for "Meats," "Groceries," 
"Drugs," "Personal," etc., and for each of the children. 

[130] 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



2. HOUSEHOLD RECORDS 

A — Family Sizes Record C — Linen Record (num- 
(shoes, hosiery, gloves, ber, cost, price and date 

etc.) of purchase) 

B — Clothes Storage Rec- D — Preserve Record 
ord E — Pantry Record 

F — Anniversary Record 
G — Gift Record 

3. LIBRARY RECORDS 

A — Poetry F — Music, Repertoire, 

B — Fiction Lyric, Humorous, Sacred 

C — History G — Music to Buy 

D — Reference 

E — Books to Read or to Buy 

4. FAMILY MEDICAL RECORD 

A — Physician B — Dentist C — Oculist 

5. RECORD OF ADDRESSES 

A — Social B — Professional C — Special 

6. HOUSE HINTS DIVISION 

A — Toilet and Laundry D — Entertainment Sugges- 

Hints tions 

B — Baby Hygiene E — Jokes, Quotations, etc. 

C — Garden and Flower 

Hints 

7. HOME FINANCIAL RECORDS 

A — Taxes, Real Estate D — Bills Receivable 
B — Document Record E — Bills Payable 

C — Bank Records F — Personal Financial Rec- 

ords, Club Dues, etc. 

[ 131 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



8. GENEKAL INVENTORY 

Subdivided for Clothes, Furniture, Jewellery, Silver, 
Miscellaneous, etc. 

First I v^ill take up the accounts. Under 
every month's subdivision there is a set of 
plain, ruled 3 by 5 inch cards. In my system 
they number fourteen. They are as follows: 



1. 


Groceries 


8. 


Fuel, Gas, Electricity 


2. 


Meats 


9. 


Furnishings and Re- 


3. 


Vegetables and Fruit 




pairs 


4. 


Bread, Milk 


10. 


Medical and Drugs 


5. 


Ice, Cleansers 


11. 


Church, Charity 


6. 


Service 


n. 


Amusement, Carfares 


7. 


Laundry, Soap, Starch, 


, 13. 


Cash Record 




Bluing 


14. 


Recapitulation 



These fourteen cards are my working records 
of receipts and expenditures. When you see two 
subjects Hke "Bread" and "Milk" on the same 
card, that means that there is room for both on 
the one card. When I make an expenditure 
under any of these heads I simply put down the 
date and the amount. Every two days or so I 
take the receipts and sales checks from the bill- 
hook in the kitchen and copy the totals on the 
cards. Receipts for gas, rent, milk, etc., I file in 

[ 132 1 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



a vertical letter-file having an alphabetical index, 
which can be bought for 35 cents, and which is 
the simplest device to file receipts accurately. 
After the month is over all that is necessary is to 
do my adding up and enter the totals for each 
division on my recapitulation card, so that I 
have a compact and handy record of what I 
spent on any item during any month. 

My first division under "Household Records" 
is that of "Family Sizes Record." Under this 
head I have cards on which I have written the 
sizes of my husband's socks and gloves, his neck- 
band, shoes, etc. On my own card I have my 
waist, hose, corset, glove, and underwear meas- 
ures. I also have a card for each child. When 
I go shopping I fasten a clip on the cards and 
take them in my bag, equipped against mistakes. 
It used to be exasperating to notice, for instance, 
some good underpriced socks, and then fail to 
remember my husband's size. Or to see cheap 
sandals for the children and not be able to recall 
whether the boy wears a 6B or a 7B. 

Then comes the "Clothes Storage Record." 
When I lay away winter or summer garments 

[133 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



and bedding I make out a card reading, perhaps, 
like this: "David — three union suits; do next 
season; box left lowest corner cedar chest"; and 
when the time comes to use the things they are 
found instantly, without my having to root 
around hopelessly and say : "Why, I'm sure I put 
them right there." So often we women lay 
away a half-worn waist, intending to make it 
over, and when we find time we can't find the 
waist, and we go around saying: "Where did I 
stuff that old pongee waist with the eyelet em- 
broidery? " But not so with a " Clothes Storage 
Record"! 

My "Linen Record" is most practical and 
money-saving because of its check upon the 
laundress or laundryman. On the cards I mark 
the sizes, cost and date of purchase of each class 
and give each piece a separate number; A, means 
large sheet; B, medium size; C, crib sheet. I 
mark the letter and the date on each piece with 
indelible ink. Under the picture of the cabinet 
is shown an actual card. The other day a 
laundry to which I had sent a special crib sheet 
lost it and disputed the matter. I handed them 

[134] 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 

my duplicate list and showed that the number 
of the missing piece corresponded with the entry 
on my card: *'C — 8 — June, 1910." To my 
surprise, instead of resenting it, the driver said: 
"I wish more women would do it that way." 
The record also enables me to judge the length 
of wear of the pieces and whether I should buy 
the same quahty again or not. 

I have a "Preserve Record." I remember 
how exasperated I used to be when I ran for a 
can of peaches and found there wasn't another 
can left. Now I keep a record and know just 
what I have. So many cans of strawberry, 
peach, quince. So many glasses of currant, 
apple, and crabapple. My daily kitchen memo- 
pad checks them as I use them, and these memos 
are later transferred to the cards. 

On the cards in my "Pantry Record" I 
have written the time certain quantities of 
supplies last me, as, "Sugar — four pounds a 
week," etc. 

I am very likely to forget a date, and there are 
some dates we none of us like to forget, such as 
anniversaries and birthdays. So I put them all 

r 135 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



down in black and white on cards. Some of my 
friends wonder how I manage to remember their 
birthdays, and they give me a reputation for 
thoughtfulness which belongs to my faithful 
card cabinet! 

I started my ''Gift Record" when a friend 
sent me a duplicate present. I keep in the 
record all the names of those I want to remember 
and what I gave them last time. We are giving 
my husband's younger sister, for example, a 
piece of silver each year for a silver-chest, and 
you see how helpful it is to know just what other 
pieces I have already sent her. 

We classify our books on the cards in my 
''Library Records" under poetry, fiction, etc. 
Each book is on a separate card, and if some- 
body borrows the book we put down name, 
adddress, and date on the book's card. Our 
"Library Record" includes music, because I play 
the piano and my husband sings. So I made out 
cards of all the music we own, under two heads, 
"Vocal" and "Instrumental." When we want 
to sing all we need to do is to go over to the card 
index and make out our programme, without 

[ 136 ] 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



pawing over the music itself, and the cards at 
once suggest the pieces we want. Each piece 
is numbered on the card to correspond with a 
number in heavy blue pencil on the cover of 
the music, close to the binding edge; so that in 
searching through the pile we don't have to 
yank and pull and mix up the sheets to iden- 
tify a particular song; we simply look for the 
number. Music-roll records are kept in the 
same manner. 

In both book and music classifications we have 
a card for books and music we wish to buy. 
Before we had such a card, many times, when 
some one would tell us of a "good song" or a 
fine book we should read or have, my hus- 
band or I wrote the title down on a slip of 
paper which promptly disappeared. Now we 
simply get out one of the cards and down it 
goes. 

Our "Family Medical Record" I am par- 
ticularly proud of, and so is our family doctor. 
He thinks it an idea that ought to be widely 
in use. We have three classifications: "Physi- 
cian," "Dentist," "Oculist." Under "Physi- 

[137] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



cian" we have a card for every one in the 
family. My boy's card reads: 

Vaccination (with vaccination certificate) . August, 1910 

Measles January, 1911 

Adenoids removed April, 1912 

In any illness a physician asks first about 
previous health and attacks of sickness; schools 
require information on these points — all of 
which questions are usually answered by the 
mother in an indefinite way. 

Under "Dentist" we also have a separate card 
for each member of the family. On the back of 
each card is a "tooth chart," which every den- 
tist has in abundance. The dentist marks on 
this what he does to the teeth, and we can look at 
our charts, and see when that aching tooth was 
last filled. 

On the "OcuHst" card is the prescription for 
my glasses, the date of the last eye-testing and 
what each lens cost. 

What I should do if I had to depend on the old 
way of keeping addresses in "address books" I 
surely don't know. Not long ago I searched an 

[138] 



^^i:^. Mj>.<tr^. MmH-. 



ji, A (73Xf'l' l 






Av-Aio- B,.^^ /h,^. -gf SSiJ.^ 






Gr-Q J-Jm^^ 'X u ' la . .^ 2. Jl4^3L 



J^,.c ( c^£- ) (,ir K i>$) 



C/-C6- Bt^'A h^ 01 •y/^geZ 





BUSINESSLIKE EQUIPMENT FOR THE HOME 

(1) Sample Card from the Home Record Cabinet 

(2) The Time and Worry Saving Home Record Cabinet 

(3) A Vertical Letter File for Receipts 

(4) A Tickler Which Reminds the Busy Housewife 

(5) A Vertical Filing Envelope for Saving Large Clippings 

(6) A Book of Handy Labels for Home Use 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



old address book, only to find that several 
friends had since removed to new streets, that 
two had passed away and three had married. 
Now I have an alphabetical index and put each 
name on a card and file it under its proper letter. 
When names change, as when one of my friends 
marries, I simply throw out the card and make 
a new one. I have one division for names of 
friends and another for names of tradespeople 
and for business cards of blanket cleaners, dyers, 
dentists, etc. 

The cards in my "House Hints" subdivisions 
I use as much as or more than any other and find 
them exceedingly helpful. You know how often 
we read a good toilet or laundry suggestion in a 
magazine and mean to save it. Or we do cut it 
out but forget where we put it. When I see a 
recipe for a massage lotion or something of that 
kind it goes straight on a card which I can't lose. 
Helpful ideas on baby hygiene or diet are filed 
the same way. 

Under another division I file bits of poetry, 
stories and quotations which I should not like to 
forget. I find this last becoming of more in- 

[139j 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



terest and value; and once, when some of my 
friends were to dinner and everybody ran out of 
stories and witticisms, I made much fun by 
bringing forth my ''system," which they all 
agreed to be "a gold mine of the right stuff." 
I haven't heard the last of my ''entertainment 
by card system" yet! Some of the clippings on 
all the subjects are too large for such a small 
card, so I have them filed in a set of large 
envelope folders which my husband brought 
from the ofl&ce for me. I also file hints on 
"entertainment" and games in these folders. 

My husband attends to the "Home Financial 
Records." Under this head we keep a record of 
the valuable documents we have, such as deeds, 
stock certificates, etc. The documents them- 
selves are in a safe downtown, where all valuable 
papers should be kept; but we have a list of 
what they are at home, so that in case of accident 
to my husband I shall be able to know exactly 
what condition his affairs are in. A lawyer has 
told us that this section of the cabinet is one of 
the most sensible ideas he ever came across. He 
says that no end of delay and difficulty fre- 

[ 140 1 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



quently attends the settling of a man's affairs in 
case of accident, just because his family doesn't 
know accurately of their condition. A card 
under "Taxes, Real Estate," tells when taxes 
are due, when paid; a card for insurance, a 
card for house lease, a card giving our pay- 
ments on a small piece of property we hope 
to own some day, tell us at a moment's no- 
tice all we want to know about our financial 
affairs. 

The last division is "General Inventory," 
subdivided for furniture, silver, jewellery, etc. 
Such a list is only a common-sense protection 
for any family and is an accurate statement 
which is of immense value in case of theft or fire, 
as insurance companies compel a listing of the 
goods they are asked to be responsible for. 
People really have more things than they are 
aware of and often do not know their value until 
it is put down in cold figures. We keep a du- 
plicate card of the inventory with the documents 
downtown in the safe, so that there will be 
another copy undestroyed even if this box 
should be burned. 

[141] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



And all this information is contained in a 
fifteen-inch box! 

Besides my "cabinet box" I have worked out 
one or two helpful points in the way of simple 
records which I think every woman might adopt 
with profit to herself. For instance, when I fill 
a chest or a storage box with clothing, etc., 
besides labelling each bundle that goes into the 
chest or box I make a rough chart of the inside 
of the receptacle, so that I can put my hand on 
any desired article at once without disturbing 
the others. 

Again, on the inside of my medicine-chest door 
I have written, for emergency's sake, a list of 
the chief accidents and poisonings that are liable 
to occur in a family, and their treatments. On 
each bottle I write the date of purchase. Every 
six months I overhaul the cabinet and throw away 
medicines antedating that period, as I believe it is 
dangerous to take stale medicines which may have 
deteriorated from age and exposure. 

I have also labelled the drawers of the chiffo- 
nier that holds the children's clothes. I found 
that I was always opening the wrong drawers. 

[142 1 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



So I pasted neat labels, *' David's Underwear," 
* 'Jean's Rompers," etc., on the drawers, and find 
it saves time for me, and especially for a stranger 
or nurse who might be called in to take care of 
the house for a brief period. Such occasions are 
bound to occur in every home at some time, no 
matter how much care is exercised by the mem- 
bers of the family, and I always think of this 
and try to have my home in such order that it 
would run smoothly even without my hand at 
the helm. That is why I label my linen shelves, 
the pantry shelves, laundry, etc., so that it 
would facilitate laying away linen and supplies 
by a stranger or a maid. 

Some women who do a great deal of sewing 
may find it very helpful to use a pasteboard box 
or some other receptacle or drawer for neatly 
and systematically filing away their paper pat- 
terns, instead of using the usual haphazard 
'^pattern bag." Pasteboard "guides" on which 
the subjects may be written (such as ''Waists," 
"Aprons," etc.) will be found convenient to 
classify them quickly, and will save time, temper 
and expense. 

[143] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Every woman can very readily adapt these 
ideas to her own needs and develop filing sys- 
tems of her own. I know that any woman who 
has once felt the comfort, satisfaction and pride 
that come from the use of a systematic filing 
method will never return to the slipshod ways of 
the past. 

Many women will say that it is not "interest- 
ing" to keep home records in this systematic 
way, and that they cannot be '* bothered" with 
filing the ice receipts and checking up the 
butcher's bill. 

I want to ask such women why they are eager 
to crowd the modern business ofiice for a small 
and inadequate living wage? Will any woman 
tell me why she has more chances for "self- 
expression" if she tabulates figures, files data, or 
makes out price-lists for typewriters or tailored 
suits or carboys of drugs in a crowded office, in 
manifestly unsesthetic surroundings, than if she 
used that same abihty in tabulating figures, 
data and price-lists in her own home, about her 
own affairs, where she is surrounded by as 
aesthetic a background as she chooses to make 

[ 144 1 



RECORDS IN THE HOUSEHOLD 



it, and where every stimulation of love and 
companionship is offered her? Why does the 
modern woman prefer to check up her em- 
ployer's bills rather than her own? Why is it 
less interesting to make out a card of family 
sizes than it is to list hardware and drug sun- 
dries, about which she knows nothing and which 
do not concern her life one iota? 

I believe the keeping of home records will 
prove just as stimulating to any woman who 
tries it as the keeping of an employer's records 
— and there is the added weight of self-interest 
in the home, which is lacking in business. The 
efficient homemaker will believe that it is a 
necessary part of her profession of homemaking 
to keep her records "reliable, immediate, and 
accurate," and that it is just as commendable 
to have her home run in such a manner that a 
stranger can run it in the same grooves as her- 
self as it is desirable to have the cogs in a great 
railway system go right on moving, even though 
the finger of the president of the road ceases to 
write his dictates. 

[ 145 ] 



CHAPTER NINE 

THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 
COOK-BOOK 



1 CAN recall the large brown-backed cook- 
book which my mother used and which finally 
became swelled to twice its original size by the 
addition of clippings, pasted recipes, and house 
hints stuffed in at the back and front, and 
scattered among the pages. When the book 
became of this unwieldy size, my mother would 
threaten to make separate scrapbooks, com- 
plaining she had mislaid the mincemeat recipe 
Aunt Edith had given her, and had looked and 
looked and couldn't find it ! 

The average cook-book becomes mussed with 
use. You want to see how many raisins the 
coffee-cake recipe calls for, and you page the 
book to see and you get it all soiled from your 
doughy fingers. Or, splash ! go the eggs over the 
mayonnaise recipe you are following from the 

[146] 



NEW HOUSEKEEPING COOK-BOOK 



opened book before you. Your Southern friend 
gives you her recipe for beaten biscuits, or that 
eggless cake you mean to try, and you stick it 
hurriedly into the back of the big cook-book, and 
when you open the book the next time it is gone, 
or, if there, the paper flies to the floor. 

I have made for myself a filing cook-book that 
avoids all these faults. I know there are card 
cabinet cook-books on the market, but what I 
wanted was a selected list of recipes, choice 
recipes of my friends, or those I have tested 
from magazines. I also use the large, regular 
cook-books, but use them chiefly as works of 
"reference." If a large book contains recipes 
which I use often I transfer them to cards in the 
drawer instead of using them in the book itself. 

I either paste or write or typewrite the 
recipes on cards. A small paper clip is fastened 
on the front of the drawer and into it I stick 
my card, so that it stands steady and enables me 
to read from it as I go about the kitchen pre- 
paring the requisite materials. 

The "New Housekeeping Cook-Book," as I 
call it, is just another drawer similar to the one I 

[147 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPIN 



described for use with household records, only 
filled with larger cards — 6 by 4. I keep the 
drawer over the kitchen table where I work, 
and when I want to see how to make "tomato 
puree," for instance, instead of laying the cook- 
book on the table and mussing it all up, I 
merely take the "tomato puree" card from the 
drawer, stick it in a little clip on the outside, 
and go about gathering my materials, without 
touching the card, which I put back after use, 
with clean fingers. The drawer should always 
be placed at the eye-level, for easy reading. 

I recently made another improvement in the 
use of the drawer, and had it fitted on grooves 
into my kitchen cabinet, under the cabinet top. 
I had the front of the drawer slanted back at a 
slight angle, so it could be read more easily, and 
a piece of glass over the front insures the cards 
being clean. I divided the drawer into sub- 
heads as follows, although any preferred group 
ing could be given: 

Beverages Beans, Peas, Lentils 

Bread, Rolls, Muffins, Biscuits Cakes and Icings 
Cocktails Candies 

[ 148 ] 



NEW HOUSEKEEPING COOK-BOOK 



Desserts Eggs, Omelets, Rabbits 

Fish, Lobster Fruits 

Game, Poultry Fritters 

Jelly, Preserves Ices and Creams 

Meats Macaroni, Rice, Curries 

a. Beef Oysters, Clams 

b. Brains, Sweetbreads, etc. Puddings 

c. Mutton, Lamb Potatoes 

d. Pork Sauces 

e. Veal Sherberts and Punches 
Menus Soups 

Pastry Special 

Pickles and Catsups Vegetables 

Salads Waffles 

Under *' Meats" I have two cards of the 
meats I generally prepare, divided into two 
groups, one "requiring one hour or less," the 
other from "one to four hours." Under the des- 
sert card I have divisions, such as "Desserts 
with Eggs," and another, "Desserts without 
Eggs"; on another card under "Special" I have 
a list of what I call " Complete Meals" — that is, 
meals in which one or two balanced dishes give 
a meal containing all necessary amounts of fats, 
carbohydrates, protein and salts. I have a card 
marked "Lunch Dishes" which aids as a re- 
minder for that sometimes trying meal. Under 

r 149 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



''Menu" I have several cards containing menus 
I have read, or more frequently those I have 
found particularly successful the times I tried 
them at home. Another "Menu" card contains 
a list of dishes for more formal meals. It used 
to be that I would often come to the point of not 
knowing ''what to have for dinner." Now just 
a quick twirling of the cards in the card-cabinet 
cook-book, and I am bound to find some happy 
suggestion under "Dessert," "Meat" or "Vege- 
table." 

There are four points I am trying to cover 
with this cook-book. As yet I have not had 
time to finish them all, but when I have I shall 
feel that I have made a valuable addition to the 
accuracy of my recipes. A recipe must be 
excellent — "reliable" — first. But is that all.^^ 
Does not the housewife always ask the following 
questions when trying a new recipe: 

1. How long does it take 3. How much does it make? 

to prepare? 

2. How long does it take 4. How much does it cost? 

to cook? 

I am trying to answer each of these questions 

f 150 1 




CROWN ROAST OF LAMB WITH PEAS AND 
STEAMED WAFFLE POTATOES 

Select parts from two loins of lamb containing from seven 
to eleven ribs in each. Scrape the flesh from the bone between 
the ribs, as far down as the lean meat and trim off the back- 
bone. Keep the ribs on the outside, shape each piece in a 
semi-circle and sew together to form a crown. Tie securely. 
Cover each chop bone with a thin strip of salt pork to prevent 
burning. Dredge with flour, sprinkle with salt and pepper, 
and roast for an hour and a half until tender throughout. 
Remove the cubes of fat and replace with paper frills. Serve 
on a hot platter, with green peas in the centre of the crown, 
and steamed waffle potatoes around the base. 




Specimen recipe card with illustration, from 

FiUng Cook Book 

The New Housekeeping FiUng Cook Book 



NEW HOUSEKEEPING COOK-BOOK 



for each recipe. You see what a point of exact- 
ness and rehabihty such answers would give. I 
have worked it out with * 'Oyster Souffle," for 
instance. I have written in the corner of the 
card: 

1. 15 minutes 2. 20 minutes 3. Serves six 4. 35 cents 

A friend has made herself a cabinet like mine 
and she says she finds the plan a fine one to help 
her maid to learn to cook. She gives the maid 
one card at a time to prepare, and it seems easier 
for the maid to follow the one card than to read 
in a book, where the double page of recipes 
is confusing. The maid said she would 
"cook all of them cards yet," and the plan 
acts as an incentive to learn one card after 
another. 

I can hardly express the satisfaction that this 
filing cook-book gives me. As the drawer holds 
a thousand cards, I have plenty of room to add 
the many new and appetizing dishes whose 
recipes I see in magazines. I make a point to 
clip all interesting recipes from booklets, or 
elsewhere, and these I first keep in the large 

[ 151 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



filing envelopes I mentioned before. Then I 
try, or "test," each recipe, to find out if I really 
like it, and wish to include it among my staple 
dishes. If it proves a success, then I copy it on 
a card for the drawer itself, in this way making 
the drawer a "blue-ribbon" cook-book of only 
the tested and most choice recipes. 



[152] 



CHAPTER TEN 

APPLYING THE WAGE SCHEDULE AND 

BONUS IDEAS TO THE SERVANT 

PROBLEM 



In previous chapters I have shown how the 
first nine principles of industrial efficiency can be 
applied to the tasks of homemaking, and how 
these ideas are especially helpful to the woman 
who does her own work. The points of ''ideals," 
''common sense," the "counsel" she must seek, 
how she can "standardize" the tasks, operations 
and conditions of housework, "dispatching" and 
"scheduling" these tasks like trains, and, last, 
keeping her home records "reliable, immediate, 
and accurate" — all these we have applied to 
the woman who is her own servant. 

Thus far, then, we have been studying how to 
apply the practical points of the efficiency doc- 
trine; there remain the three last points, which 
are largely ethical — those of the "fair deal," 
"discipline," and the "efficiency reward," and 

[153 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



which do not concern the woman herself as a 
worker as much as they do the worker or servant 
she employs. 

The real final goal of all the efficiency doctrine 
is not that a given task be done in such a time 
without waste motion, or with a certain tool; 
the final goal is the increased efficiency of the 
worker, and her increased material and mental 
success. This is the true goal whether we speak 
of the woman who applies these principles to 
herself as worker, or whether she applies them 
to a worker she hires. 

Let us consider how the ''fair deal" and 
''efficiency reward" concern the servant in the 
home; because in factories and shops where 
efficiency prevails, the greatest pains is taken to 
develop the individual workman. Heads and 
bosses of departments try hard to find out just 
the particular kind of work for which a man is 
fitted; elaborate bonus systems and schemes of 
wage-payment have this end in view — the 
material and mental prosperity of the worker. 
It is because it has this end in view, and success- 
fully accomplishes it, that there are almost no 

[154] 



THE SERVANT PROBLEM 



strikes in factories where efficiency and scientific 
management of men prevail. This is true in 
spite of the fact that efficiency has most fre- 
quently been applied in trades where strikes are 
most frequent. 

We women have talked much about ''solving 
the servant problem" for years; yet conditions 
seem to grow worse rather than better. Fewer 
servants are recruited each year, and the good 
Irish and German stock which entered service 
twenty years ago is being replaced largely by 
the southern European, Bohemian, and Slav 
girls, who are much harder to train into our 
American ideals. Various and many plans have 
been tried with fair or no success; and the 
"problem" seems to grow more acute and com- 
plicated all the time. 

After studying with me the new ideas of 
efficiency and scientific management applied to 
the home, a friend of mine who employs a maid 
tried out the efficiency ideas which I have 
explained in previous chapters. She standard- 
ized her household tasks, she made schedules 
for the maid to follow, she gave the maid the 

[155 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



right tools to use in the kitchen, and in every 
way applied the "new housekeeping" in the 
work which the maid did for her. After some 
preliminary diflSculties in getting it applied, the 
housework went on as if done by magic, and 
the smooth-running way in which her home 
was maintained delighted my friend beyond 
measure. 

One day, however, her maid said to her: '*I 
ain't complaining, ma'am, and I'd rather work 
this way than the old way, now that I've learnt; 
but this idea of yours don't seem to work so 
much good to the girls as it does to you. I can 
do more work by doing as you say, and easier, 
too; but it don't make no more pay for me, and 
even when I hurry up and get done sooner I 
don't get no more time to myself. Seems as if 
when I do more I ought to get more, but I can't 
quite figure it out." 

"I tried," said my friend, "to make Katy see 
that the object of all my ideas was to make her 
work easier. She acknowledged that, but she 
proved that she was doing more, and she didn't 
see that my scheme helped her financially even 

[ 156 1 



THE SERVANT PROBLEM 



if it did reduce the effort with which she did her 
work. *'When I thought it over," my friend 
continued, "I saw that Katy was right. I had 
been applying the practical points of the effi- 
ciency gospel, so that Katy was able to get more 
work done than before I taught her, but I had 
forgotten to apply the last three ethical points of 
the efficiency gospel, those of 'fair deal,' 'dis- 
ciphne,' and the 'efficiency reward,' to the one 
who was benefiting me by her increased skill. 

"Katy gets more work done because she 
apphes the schedules and plans I have given her. 
This does benefit me, but, as she rightly asked, 
where does she come in.^ In other words, where 
does the worker or employee benefit because 
the employer adopts the new and more efficient 
housekeeping? It was distinctly up to me to see 
how a plan which benefits me would benefit 
Katy as well." 

So my friend began to think it over, and 
recalled that in almost every industry, in all the 
factories which we visited, or had heard about, 
the conditions of work, the wages and the hours 
have all been standardized by law. But Katy 

[157] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



is still in the same barbaric state of vassalage 
which was once common in all industries. 

"I didn't like to admit it to myself," my friend 
continued, "but when I looked at the matter 
squarely I had to concede that my attitude to- 
ward Katy is that of an arbitrary General toward 
his soldiers. I say, 'Do this,' and I expect her to 
do it without question; not because it is right 
or fair or the best way, but just because I say so. 
And I expect her to accept such rooms and board 
and hours and comfort as I choose to give her, 
and to be satisfied even if I stop her in the 
middle of the breadmaking to button my dress, 
or if I have company on washday. Now that's 
the naked truth, Christine, and I couldn't get 
away from it. 

"After I got to that point I began to lose my 
wonder that a girl hesitates before entering the 
'servant class.' I began to see that a girl in this 
class is isolated from her companions and looked 
down on by them as inferior to typists and 
clerks. Her health is not cared for. I read the 
report of one investigation board which tells us 
there is a higher percentage of consumption 

[158 1 



THE SERVANT PROBLEM 



among servants than among other workers; a 
second commission reported that more insanity 
is found in this class; and Miss Jane Addams, 
writing recently, says 'there is more danger of 
prostitution for the girl in domestic service than 
in any other occupation.' We give her no 
mental stimulus nor impulse to improve. Most 
important, we give her no wage stimulation 
which might urge her to better work. This is 
how I had been treating Katy." 

"Well," I asked, "how did you apply these 
ethical points to Katy.^" 

"First," answered my friend, "I changed my 
whole attitude toward her. I dropped the dicta- 
torial idea of ordering her around and feeling 
that she is a subordinate. That is a false rela- 
tion, and is the very heart of the difficult 
situations between mistress and maid. Under 
scientific management there is no arbitrary 
commanding officer — there is ' team work' of 
equals. 

"But before I assumed this new attitude 
toward Katy I had also to assume a new attitude 
to my profession of homemaking. I had to 

[159] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



think of it as worthy of my highest efforts, not 
degrading or unimportant. Then with this ideal 
firmly in my mind, I could the more easily con- 
vince Katy of the dignity of her work. Great 
soldiers or business men are not willing to ask 
others to do what they themselves would be 
unwilling to do. The best mistresses are those 
who will be able and proud to perform any detail 
of work, just as the greatest printer I know, who 
is also worth thousands, is able to set up the 
most complicated machine in his shop, from the 
first screw to the last. 

*'Then I made up my mind that Katy should 
share some of the benefits to workers which are 
granted in other industries. Consider what fac- 
tories and business houses do for the comfort and 
health of their employees nowadays. They 
maintain, among other things, reading-rooms, 
clubs, social centres, nurses, matrons and recrea- 
tion roofs. I saw to it first that Katy's room 
was properly heated, that it had proper light 
and ventilation and was furnished comfortably. 
Her room was all this in a way, but when I got 
at it I found much to be desired. Then I gave 

\ 160 1 



THE SERVANT PROBLEM 



her a high stool to use for her work in the kitchen, 
and I trained her to see that the kitchen was 
well ventilated. I saw that she had comfortable 
shoes and that she observed personal hygiene. 
By doing these little things for Katy she got it 
into her head that I was giving her a 'fair deal,' 
and at the same time it insured her devotion 
and interest to myself. I got for her some good 
books, and books on domestic science of the 
simpler kind so that she might develop mentally 
and form some broader idea of homemaking 
than the limited round of daily duties teaches 
her. 

''Then I went to a large shop and talked to the 
foreman and asked him to explain to me the new 
attitude of scientific management that the 
employer is assuming toward his helpers. 

"He said that under scientific management 
the employer assumes the responsibility of enabling 
the employee to work under the best conditions. 
You see how this is entirely opposed to the old 
theory of making the employee work by force, 
or putting the responsibility on the worker. 
The old way, he said, was for the foreman or 

[161] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



manager to say: 'Here's a casting; go and anneal 
it.' And the workman chose his own tools and 
his own time, and did the job just as he thought 
best. If it was a good job all right, but if it 
was a poor one the worker didn't much care. 
Now it is all different. Under scientific manage- 
ment the employer first studies the task to be 
done, and the employer finds the best way, the 
shortest way, and the best tool to use in doing it. 

*'Then the foreman hands the worker a card, 
a kind of instruction card, which tells him 
exactly how to do this task, what tools to use, 
and how long it will take. So the man must 
do a good job, do you see? The employer has 
planned so well that the worker cannot fail. 
And because the employer has planned so well 
his workmen accomplish more work with less 
effort and less waste, and have become efficient 
workmen. 

"I had done all this for Katy. I had studied 
her household tasks and found that bread takes 
so long to make, that it takes thirty minutes to 
tidy the rooms, and that the best way to wash 
dishes or iron or do some other household task 

[162] 



THE SERVANT PROBLEM 



takes only so long. I had made Katy follow 
schedules based on these data, and her efficiency 
was greatly increased. 

"Now as to where Katy comes in: I found out 
how the other workers under scientific manage- 
ment receive an incentive to do more work. 
This foreman explained just how his men receive 
what is called an 'efficiency reward.' All the 
workers receive so much as a daily wage for 
certain standard amounts of work. But if they 
do more than the standard — that is, reach a 
high percentage of efficiency — they receive a 
* bonus' of extra money. But it is not always 
quantity of work that is the goal of efficiency, but 
quality, skill, and more responsibility in work. 
The foreman said that before scientific manage- 
ment was in practice in this shop the workmen 
used to do the least amount of work they could, 
many of them, and that word would often be 
passed around secretly among themselves to do 
just as little work as possible. Why.f^ Because 
under the old plan it was the employer, and the 
employer only, who benefited by the workman 
doing more work. But under the new plan the 

[163] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



more the worker does the more he gains in actual 
increase in pay. And if he shows especial ap- 
titude and skill he is promoted to positions of 
responsibility. 

"Now do you see where Katy was right .^ She, 
too, must receive an ' efficiency reward ' for more 
work done, or for the higher skill she develops. 
Nothing acts so strongly upon a worker as this 
money or promotion incentive to greater output 
or skill. But it is just this stimulus that my 
Katy and other Katies are not given under the 
old plan. They see themselves drudging away 
forever at the same old pay, with no chance to 
rise. Under those conditions what is the use of 
trying to do your work better, or staying in one 
place any length of time?" 

" How did you give Katy this extra stimulus? " 
I asked. 

"First," said my friend, "I thought about 
Katy's hours of work and the wages she gets 
a week. This 'hours' question is one of the 
most difficult in our whole readjustment of the 
servant problem. Nearly all girls will tell you 
that the hours are so long they ' never have any 

[ 164 ] 



THE SERVANT PROBLEM 



time to themselves,' and that their work is never 
done. We have extra company and keep them 
very late, or we ask them to change their Thurs- 
day suddenly to suit our convenience. Yet we 
never make it up to them. 

"I first standardized her work, her tools, her 
operations, basing on them schedules for her to 
follow. Katy at once did more work for me, with 
less effort to herself, in the same time. Here I 
am the gainer. But Katy must gain too. She 
must have free time and extra incentive to work. 

"Now Katy gets $5 a week as a houseworker, 
which is about 80 cents a day. I made up the 
following schedule of wages and hours based on 
this sum: 

katy's daily time schedule 
Regular hours of work (at 8 cents an hour) 

7 A.M. — 3 P.M. 
5 P.M. — 8 P.M. 

11 work hours daily at 8 cents 



REGULAR OFF TIME 

Work done in these hours 10 cents an hour 

3 P.M. — 5 P.M. 
After 8 p.m. 
Sunday afternoons or alternate Thursdays 

[165] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



"This simple time schedule brought out these 
points: that Katy's regular hour- wage should be 
based on about 8 cents an hour; and that I 
should give her 10 cents an hour for extra or 
over time. Her regular hours were as given, 
leaving two hours off in the afternoon, when she 
was free to mend, read or go out for a walk. I 
know that maids do have hours off, but they are 
always subject to mistresses' whims. On my 
schedule it was understood that Katy's free 
hours would be inviolate unless they were con- 
sidered extra hours at extra pay, just as they are 
in a hospital or factory. If I wanted Katy's 
services during those two hours, or after hours, 
as when dinner was late or extra company 
delayed the work, then I paid for it. If I asked 
her to give up her Thursday to assist for an 
unexpected guest, I paid her by the hour, or 
about 50 cents for the afternoon. 

"In other words, I trained Katy by my 
efficiency methods to become a trained worker, 
and then I paid her as trained workers are paid 
in business houses or factories." 

"Yes," I commented, "but isn't it true that 
[166] 



THE SERVANT PROBLEM 



many mistresses do already train their maids 
and give them privileges and favours? Yet it 
seems that the more they get the more they 
want, and in cases where the maids have been 
treated with the utmost fairness they have 
nevertheless left their mistresses unexpectedly 
and when most needed." 

''That is true," said my friend, "but I feel 
that when the present mistress-slave relation is 
changed to a businesslike one of employer-em- 
ployee, with schedule hours and extra pay for 
extra work, the service will be put, as it should 
be, on the same plane as in other employments, 
and these present troubles will not occur any 
more than they do in my husband's office. 

"By this system we not only give Katy a 
'fair deal,' but we also put in force the point of 
'discipline.' Certain work is scheduled for her 
and she must accomplish it. My plans must be 
carried out; she must feel the responsibility of 
her work and not shirk it. When she under- 
stands my plans, based on the best way to do 
her work, she must accept this programme and 
carry it through. 

[167] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



"'The 'discipline' of the Navy shows what I 
mean: the men have a spirit of loyalty to their 
work; even though it is hard, they take pride in 
it, and are proud that they belong to the ser- 
vice. It is something of this spirit of loyalty 
and pride in even difficult work — a willingness 
to *stand by' and do their best' — that must 
characterize the 'discipline' of the servant to 
make her a success. 

"But," continued my friend, "other plans 
and means can be used to increase the efficiency 
of servants, and raise the standards of their 
work." 



[168 



CHAPTER ELEVEN 
INCREASING SERVANT EFFICIENCY 



1 HE stimulation of increased pay," con- 
tinued my friend, "is probably the strongest 
spur to increased effort that we can give the 
servant or any other worker. It is because we 
wish to have some basis for measuring this 
extra' pay, or 'bonus,' that I worked out the 
wage-schedule given in the last chapter. 

''My idea, like that of Mr. Taylor, is that 
every worker should be paid first a day-wage, of 
settled amount, just because he puts himself at 
your disposal as a worker. But in order to 
increase the efficiency of the worker, we must 
give this additional ' bonus' or ' reward' above 
and beyond the day-wage. It is the familiar 
example of the salesman who has a regular 
salary and 'commissions.' It is the extra per 
cent, given on his commissions that stimulates 
the man to increase his sales. 

r 169 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



"It is harder to arrange bonus rewards in 
the home than in the factory, but some can be 
planned. There are certain dishes, certain whole 
menus, the mastery of which might be held out 
to a cook as a stimulus for her increased effi- 
ciency. A mistress could say to her cook: 
'Here are twelve dishes, or six luncheons, that I 
want you to know how to cook, just all by 
yourself. When you can serve these without 
any aid from me I will give you so much. ' Or 
she might put responsibility with the children 
as another incentive, promising to raise the 
maid's wages when she could relieve her of 
certain details of their care. Another bonus 
might be given when the maid had learned to do 
the ironing, so that a washerwoman need not be 
employed so often. 

"An excellent bonus is the oflFer of two weeks' 
vacation, with pay, to any servant who has been 
in steady employment for one year. Another, 
giving the maid the whole of Thanksgiving Day, 
Christmas Day, or other holiday. If the family 
celebrates either Thanksgiving Day or Christ- 
mas Day at home the other may be granted as a 

[ no ] 



SERVANT EFFICIENCY 



bonus to the servant, or she may be given extra 
pay for working on hoHdays. Extra pay during 
prolonged stays of guests is only another side of 
the 'fair deal.' 

"I have found that young girls employed as 
servants often deplore that they never have a 
morning when they can sleep late after a party 
or dance. Perhaps we never even thought of 
that, and how good it would seem to sleep late 
once in a while just as we do! The girls have 
Thursday and Sunday afternoons off, but always 
must be up again the next morning early. An 
easy way of making a bonus would be to count 
all day Sunday as two Thursday afternoons, 
and let the girl off from Saturday night until 
Monday morning, so that she could sleep late 
Sunday at some friend's house if she wished. 

"It is impossible to estimate the stimulus that 
some form of bonus gives to the worker. Give 
a girl a bonus like some of these, or tell her you 
will raise her wages wLjn she can cook ten 
dinners from your cook-book, and see how the 
incentive works! She will probably become 
enthusiastic and interested in her work, because 

[m] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



she will see that you want to give her an effi- 
ciency reward as well as to consider your own 
benefits from her increased efficiency." 

This successful experiment of my friend to 
apply the ethical points of the efficiency doc- 
trine to her maid has stimulated me to investi- 
gate the subject further. Under present condi- 
tions the servant works in isolation in the home, 
removed from social pressure, which induces 
competition, and hence skill. In the factory 
"Katy" sees other girls at work, and there is a 
rivalry as to which does the most and is the 
most successful. At present there are no effi- 
cient standards for the servant. The demand is 
far greater than the supply, and hence a servant 
of very poor skill stands a chance of employ- 
ment. On the roof of one of the largest machine 
shops in the country hangs the permanent sign, 
"Skilled Workmen Wanted." In this factory 
a system of demerits and merits exists in which 
the workers practically grade themselves. The 
factory has established high standards of work, 
and when a workman presents himself he is not 
questioned, but put to work at his own price. 

[172] 



ERVANT EFFICIENCY 



If he can satisfy the standards set, he will be 
retained; if he can exceed them, he receives 
extra pay; if he cannot *'make good," he auto- 
matically puts himself out of work. Now, some 
such graded ^pressure of work may in time re- 
place in the home the social pressure exerted on 
the "Katies" of the outside world. 

But until we raise the standards of work in 
our homes, which would make such a graded 
pressure possible, we must have recourse to 
other forms of incentive. A whole chapter 
might be written on the psychology of sugges- 
tion and surroundings on the worker. The light, 
cheery kitchen with sanitary fittings and decora- 
tive utensils cannot fail to react cheerily and 
happily on its worker. "Like mistress like 
maid/' is an old saying, but it is true to psy- 
chological laws, and we know that neatness, 
thrift, and order in the mistress will tend to 
evoke the same attributes in the maid. Imita- 
tion is one of the strongest means of increasing 
efficiency in any line. Most of our human 
progress is due to imitation of what some other 
individual originated and used, wore, or ate. 

[173] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Servant efficiency can be increased by setting 
for the servant an example of neatness, economy, 
and dexterity in work, which she will sub- 
consciously imitate. 

Not only in material matters will this point of 
imitation increase the servant's efficiency, but 
also in the psychical attitude of the mistress to 
the maid. As my friend said, how can a maid 
believe in the dignity of homemaking if the 
mistress herself considers it beneath her, and 
thinks it fit only for hired workers? How can a 
maid regard her work as worthy of her best 
efforts if the mistress thinks housework beneath 
her, and never takes an active interest in it.^* It 
is only when the maid feels that the mistress 
believes in the tremendous importance and value 
of true housekeeping that she will imitate the 
attitude of her employer. 

The new idea of scientific management in 
handling workmen in factories is to enforce a 
spirit of "team-work between equals." The 
**boss" has given place to the trained helper, 
who guides rather than dictates. His aim is not 
to make everybody responsible for work but 

[174] 



SERVANT EFFICIENCY 



himself, but to assume co-responsibility with 
the worker. This different attitude which the 
"boss" assumes toward work is reflected in the 
worker. So, too, the maid will imitate this 
mental attitude of work if the mistress responds 
and sees that their work must also be "team- 
work of equals." It is an actual definite rule 
in many scientifically managed shops that supe- 
riors say "mister" in addressing the humblest 
workman. How many good potential servants 
have become poor stenographers because of the 
odium of the name "Bridget".'^ 

Another means of increasing servant elEciency 
is to stimulate the loyalty of the worker. We 
work best for those we love. This loyalty can be 
generated by the mistress assuming the "team- 
work" attitude, and by her genuine interest in 
the worker. We can never have loyalty unless 
we have some degree of equality. Servants of 
the "old days" are universally spoken of as 
loyal. These servants were loyal, I think on the 
final analysis, because in those days servants 
were much more a part of the family in which 
they served than is true of servants to-day. 

\ 175 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



The old "mammies" and "followers" who some- 
times made great sacrifice for master or mistress 
did so because they felt it was for one of their 
own family. It may be harder to stimulate this 
attitude to-day; but we have examples of the 
loyalty of workers in factories and shops, which 
always result when the workers feel that their 
employer is honestly desirous of serving their 
best interests. It is this loyalty, this "service 
plus" attitude of the worker to his employer, 
that the eflSciency gospel is peculiarly able to 
develop. 

Another strong psychological means to in- 
crease servant eflSciency is to stimulate the ser- 
vant's interest in her work. I do not mean 
stimulation in the result of labour, but training 
the servant to get pleasure in the doing of good 
work. Experiments in the kitchen, new dishes, 
new ways of serving, or the testing of new 
devices, are all means to create interest. Work 
done because the worker likes to do it is always 
done well. Pleasure generally accompanies in- 
terest, and if the worker can be made to enjoy 
her work, her eflSciency will certainly increase. 

[176 1 



SERVANT EFFICIENCY 



One of the interesting points experimented 
with in factories where workers were employed 
at tasks requiring severe strain or skill, particu- 
larly among women workers, was that called 
* ' resting periods . ' ' Instead of letting the worker 
continue for a long stretch at difficult or tire- 
some work, the workers were made to stop for 
certain periods and do something pleasurable, 
like going outdoors, moving about, talking, or 
even dancing. This few moments' absolute 
change of position and attention made it possible 
for the girls to return to the difficult task and 
do it several points higher in efficiency than if 
they had continued without a change. There 
are many women kind enough to give the ser- 
vant change of work, or leisure, but too often 
there has not been intelligent enough planning 
to arrange the tasks so that the monotony of 
standing, for instance, is varied. This idea of 
"resting periods" should be as capable of in- 
creasing the efficiency of the servant in the 
home as it is that of the factory worker. 

Even if we have done everything possible to 
increase the efficiency and prosperity of the 

[177] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



worker, we have not completely done so, in my 
opinion, until conditions permit the servant to 
live her own life outside the home in which she 
works during the day. I believe that we are 
gradually coming to the abolishment of a per- 
manent serving class in our homes. There is 
everything to be said against a servant living in 
one's home and not being a part of it. Even 
though we raise the standard of the servant class 
to the dignity of skilled houseworkers we shall 
never absolutely solve the question until the 
worker ceases to live with us. I know it is not 
an entirely original thought with me, but I can 
see no practical reason why we shall not have 
servants — skilled servants — work for us, who 
live their own independent lives at their own 
homes, and come to us daily as washerwomen 
and seamstresses do now, or as workers go to 
office and factory. This is now done quite 
extensively in New York City flats and apart- 
ments where room space is at a premium, and 
particularly by the coloured workers. I believe 
we will come to it in all our homes. We would 
have to pay them more, but this increase would 

[ 178 ] 



SERVANT EFFICIENCY 



be balanced by the reduced overhead expenses 
that every permanent servant entails, and the 
necessity of having fewer rooms and thus smaller 
houses. 

I believe, thoroughly believe, that by adopt- 
ing more definite hours, by attending to the 
comfort, hygiene, and relaxation of our several 
"Katies" by exchanging our dictatorial attitude 
for one of fairness, and by offering a stimulus of 
extra money — of a bonus — and a promotion 
for increased efficiency, we women would very 
greatly solve the "servant problem." 

Just as now we support extensive training 
schools for nurses, as well as business training 
schools and colleges, besides the forms of train- 
ing given by domestic-science courses, agricul- 
tural institutes, and those trade or professional 
schools where work or practice is combined with 
learning or mental development, I believe we 
will come to have large institutes which shall 
teach housework and homemaking in a practical 
way; where courses will be given on marketing, 
buying materials, sanitation, standard practice 
in housework and cooking — institutes which 

[179 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



will graduate, not teachers, but trained workers 
to take the place of our present unskilled servant 
class. I believe that is what we are coming to, 
and the signs are already on the horizon. But 
the mistresses must themselves be ready, which 
you know, my readers, as well as I do, they are 
not. 



[180] 



CHAPTER TWELVE 

DEVELOPING THE HOMEMAKER'S 
PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 



We have talked a great deal about methods 
and systems, plans and schedules in the house- 
hold: now comes the most vital, the most diffi- 
cult point of all, and yet the keystone of the 
whole matter — the personal attitude of the woman 
toward her work. 

Without properly applying the modern ideas 
of efficiency to her own mind (which is in itself a 
complete and separate organization) the whole 
plan of "the new housekeeping" falls to pieces. 
No stream can rise higher than its source, and 
no household efficiency can be greater than the 
personal efficiency of the woman who directs it. 
This explains why there are literally millions of 
women in the world to-day who feel "up against 
it" about their households. They have helpful 
household magazines a-plenty, and labour-sav- 

[181] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



ing devices a-plenty, but the never-ending-ness, 
the detailed-ness, the wearing-ness of their work 
become too much for them. It closes over women 
like water over a drowning person, and women 
confess themselves overcome, actually assum- 
ing the mental attitude, in regard to their 
work, of slave to master, instead of master to 
slave. 

I never realized how terribly true and wide- 
spread this condition is until I became consulting 
staff contributor on the greatest woman's maga- 
zine in the world, and received daily batches 
of letters from women of all classes, incomes, and 
temperaments, from all over the world. The 
burden of their story has always the same 
terrible minor note of cowed despair in it, 
whether they live on the plains of Nebraska or 
on the Scotch heaths across the sea — the same 
outcry against something that seems to stifle and 
bind them ; the same despairing resignation that 
there is no possible relief; the same feeling of 
personal helplessness. And, I am not at all 
ashamed to say, I have experienced the same 
feeling with regard to my own household, especi- 

[182 1 



PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 



ally with the problem of caring for small children 
with but little help. 

The actual, widespread state of mind of many 
millions of women may be classified and divided 
about as follows, as I have excellent reason to 
believe after the closest and most confidential 
correspondence with many hundreds of women 
everywhere: 

(1) A general feeling that they are weighted 

down by fate and circumstances, and 
that their housework is a kind of ogre 
who has them in his grip, from which 
they cannot escape, or against which 
they do not seem to be making any 
headway. 

(2) An attitude which mistakes the physical 

work of housekeeping for the real ends 
of homemaking — which thinks it is 
making a home when in reality it is 
only keeping a house; which measures 
housekeeping ability by the amount 
and exhaustiveness of the physical 
work accomplished. 
[ 183 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



(3) An automatic, dull sort of attitude which 

goes through the routine with as little 
thought or analysis as possible, follow- 
ing any traditional methods, aiming 
only to get it finished as soon as pos- 
sible, and skeptical of any new way of 
getting work accomplished. 

(4) A mania for some one phase of house- 

work — such as cleanliness, decoration, 
cooking, etc., on which all originality 
and effort is spent, to the neglect of 
general efficiency. 

(5) A puttering love for all housework, to 

the extent that work is prolonged, 
elaborated, and repeated, which takes 
up several times more energy than nec- 
essary. 

(6) A general lack of confidence, and in- 

ability to find and apply remedies for 
conditions they know to be wrong; a 
procrastination in applying remedies 
they already know to be effective; a 
half-heartedness and lack of patience 
and thoroughness in applying any new 
[184] 



PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 



methods or routine; failure to main- 
tain discipline over themselves. 
(7) An attitude of mere tolerance toward 
housework — preferring business or 
other careers, looking impatiently and 
contemptuously on all housework, hop- 
ing to be relieved of it entirely some 
day, and exchange it for something 
"more interesting." 

Every one of these altitudes of mind is really 
poisonous and antagonistic to either efficiency or 
the highest personal happiness and character. 
These seven typical attitudes of mind have hung 
like millstones around the neck of the real 
emancipation and development of women. The 
first great work of eflBciency in the home, and of 
liberation of women from household drudgery, 
is to exchange any or all of these attitudes for 
the efficient attitude, my interpretation of which 
I write down here in italics so as to give it every 
possible emphasis: 

First of all, the efficient attitude of mind for the 
housewife and homemaker is to realize that, 
[185] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



no matter how difficult and trying are the 

household tasks and burdens she finds placed 

upon her, there positively are ways to meet and 

conquer them efficiently — if she approaches 

these problems vigorously, hopefully, and 

patiently. 

Second, that far from being dull drudgery, home- 

making in all its details is fascinating and 

stimulating if a woman applies to it her best 

intelligence and culture. 

Third, that no matter how good a housekeeper 

and homemaker a woman may already be, she 

will be eager not only to try, but to persistently 

and intelligently keep on trying, to apply 

in her home the scientific methods of work 

and management already proved and tried 

in shop and office throughout the world. 

The inefficient attitude of mind always shows 

itself by the tendency to "run around in circles" 

without getting anywhere. It doesn't start out 

right in making a judgment, because it doesn't 

deliberately put the problem before the various 

viewpoints of mind which ought to pass on it. 

It flies like a shuttlecock from one consideration 

[ 186 1 



PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 



to another, never arriving at a conclusion which 
it itself can trust. We must come to conclusions 
and definite plans of action on a "problem before we 
really can say we have done good, efficient thinking. 
The mind must be taken in hand, managed 
and organized, in order to be efficient. It is a 
whole world in itself. We, the master of it, 
whose will it ought to obey, may be (and in 
thousands and thousands of cases are) as help- 
less and ineffective as a school teacher unable to 
manage a roomful of boys. One dare not let the 
mind doze and dream too much without coming 
to conclusions; the mind must be commanded 
and manipulated. It must be stimulated and 
encouraged and studied. It does not produce 
fine results by chance or accident or inherited 
genius. Left alone, the brain tends to idle and 
to make all our actions and thoughts automatic, 
dull, and habitlike. Our minds do not ordinarily 
prefer to think efficiently; they love to see 
things as they prefer to see them, rather than as 
they are. They love to dwell in impossible air- 
castles and imagine themselves in ideal sur- 
roundings. Therefore, any one wishing an alert 

r 1S7 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



mind must systematically coax, lure, or interest 
it to concentrate efficiently on problems of life 
as they are. So many thousands of women let 
their minds "play hookey," so to speak, and 
become unable to think through to the end of a 
problem and arrive at efficient conclusions in 
which they have faith. 

By far the best and most permanent way to 
teach the mind to think efficiently is to really 
interest it. People who are not intensely inter- 
ested in a subject actually do not see the situation 
as it really is. They miss many wonderfully 
interesting elements and details in what they 
consider the common, uninteresting things of 
life. That dishwashing involves half a dozen 
sciences, and that logic, philosophy, and sociology 
have relation to it, seems silly to many women. 
Yet that's what the bricklayers said about 
bricklaying when Gilbreth revolutionized it with 
motion study science; and it took Maeterlinck 
to see the bookfuls of marvellous things in the 
simple beehive. 

A fireman arriving at a fire sees many more 
things than the ordinary spectator, who usually 

[ 188 1 



PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 



sees nothing but smoke and flames, and feels 
excited. The fireman is cool and his mind 
calmly takes up point after point about the 
direction of the wind, the draughts, etc.; and 
while others run around helplessly he is intel- 
ligently and often successfully mastering the 
fire. 

The woman who interests herself deeply in 
the smallest detail and new angle or idea about 
her work is preparing, like the fireman, to act 
intelligently and successfully under trial and 
difficulty. Just as the efficient fireman loves 
to use his mind against any and all kinds of bad 
situations, so the efficient housewife loves fo 
tackle anything that confronts her with her 
trained, efficient attitude of mind, taking hope, 
zest, and cheer in her job, and using all the 
knowledge, help, and suggestion from anywhere 
that promise to prove useful. 

Notice that, as in the case of the fireman, it is 
mind far more than muscle that wins. The only 
reason that man is not still a savage is his capac- 
ity to analyze, study, and plan. Women have, 
however, relied far too much on custom and their 

[189 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



emotions, with the result that they have not 
Hfted their sphere of labour out of the hard 
physical drudgery era, as man has lifted his 
office and shop, by scientific management and 
invention. 

We have had plenty of invention for the 
household, but the great need is now for more 
science of management, and, above all, for more 
efficient thinking and analyzing. For in the 
home, as everywhere else, efficiency must start 
in the mind of the directing spirit of the establish- 
ment. Thousands of men are inefficient, but are 
made efficient by submitting to the direction of 
efficient men who stand over them. It is the 
great misfortune of women as homemakers that 
each one of them must stand alone as the 
directing head of a separate establishment, with- 
out any trained, efficient mind to guide and 
direct them. They must apply what efficiency 
they have or can learn, alone ; while men in office 
and shop can not only be under the guidance of 
efficient foremen and overseers, but they have 
in addition the social stimulus of working among 
other men in competition. 

[ 190 ] 



PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 



It is therefore immensely, terribly important 
that women get themselves in connection with 
modern efl&ciency science, and, most important 
of all, bring themselves up to a really efficient 
attitude of mind. 

What are the practical steps which must be 
taken to get this efficient attitude of mind, and 
what does the efiicient attitude of mind do when 
it tackles a problem? The methods of efficient 
thinking about a problem are the same in the 
home as anywhere else, and may be listed as 
follows: 

(1) To separate a problem carefully into its 

various parts. 

(2) To look all the parts of the problem 

courageously, fully, and sincerely in 
the face, missing nothing. 

(3) To arrive at definite, positive, practical 

conclusions about each part of the 
problem, and then about the whole 
problem, after looking at it from many 
angles. 

(4) To "check back," or prove, each judg- 

[ 191 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



ment or conclusion by going over it 
again before accepting it as final. 

(5) To take definite steps to put the conclu- 

sions into a plan of action, and stay by 
it until it is carried through success- 
fully, or else replaced by another plan 
of action to fit new conditions. 

(6) To refuse to let the mind wallow and 

dawdle around a problem without ar- 
riving at definite, actionable conclu- 
sions ; or to arrive at conclusions with- 
out putting them into practice and 
testing them out; or to find a plan 
unsatisfactory without at once re- 
analyzing the whole matter and 
getting to work upon another plan of 
action. 

It is deadly indecisiveness which has held back 
so many women, and given another arrow to the 
jokesmith to aim at our sex. Efficient thinking 
routs out indecision like fog driven before the 
rising sun. Women are also accused of deliber- 
ately cheating themselves by ignoring unpleas- 

F192 1 



PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 



ant facts and conditions. This has cost home- 
makers more than they reaHze. 

Woman's vanity has often kept her from 
admitting that many of her problems are so 
distressing simply because of her own lack of 
personal efficiency, not because of circumstances, 
fate, or other people. In most cases, however, 
she never even suspects that she is not as 
efficient as she might be, and points to the hard 
manual labour she does as proof of her efficiency 
— as if that didn't prove just the opposite! 

Many women have hard, even terrible, bur- 
dens to bear for which they are in no way 
responsible; but even if these burdens cannot be 
lightened, after sincere, efficient thinking and act- 
ing, there still remains one solution — to carry 
these burdens with an efficient attitude of mind. 
Such an attitude may be the entire difference 
between happiness and unhappiness. 

The efficient attitude of mind is really the 
balance-wheel to the homemakers' entire life and 
work. I am more interested in making such an 
attitude universal among women than I am in 
urging upon them motion study, dispatching 

r 193 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



and scheduling, and other methods, for I know 
well that these will come if the attitude of mind 
is efficient; while I also know that they cannot 
come without it. 

You see, I am so deeply convinced that the 
nutshell of the whole matter is that women 
master their work, instead of letting their work 
master them, that I am ready to recommend that 
all methods and schedules be occasionally thrown 
overboard in order to attain mastery and inde- 
pendence if necessary or advisable. 

The end and aim of home efficiency is not a 
perfect system of work, or scientific scheduling, 
or ideal cleanliness and order; it is the personal 
happiness, health, and progress of the family in 
the home. The work, the science, the system, 
the schedule are but some of the means to that 
end, not the end itself. We must use them, or 
sidetrack them, just as needs be, to attain the 
real ends of homemaking. The point I want to 
make clear is that in trying to master our work we 
do not want to be mastered by method and system, 
thus jumping from the frying pan into the fire ! 

The 100 per cent, efficient person is not the 
[ 194 ] 



PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 



one who ties himself up in a wonderful snarl of 
method and system — but who makes his mind 
so clear and efficient that both the work and the 
system are his slaves, when he gets into action. 
Therefore I would feel very badly about it if my 
earnest plea for a more efficient attitude of mind 
should result in nothing else but increased slav- 
ish devotion to work. I do not call that woman 
efficient who thinks it a sacrilege to change her 
schedule of w^ork, leave dishes unwashed and 
house upset to take advantage of a pleasant 
afternoon for a jaunt in the woods with the 
children. Neither do I call that woman efficient 
who complains that her schedule of work leaves 
her no time to read a good book or attend an 
afternoon musical or club meeting. Efficiency 
would be a sorry thing if it simply meant a 
prisonlike, compulsory routine of duties. But 
it doesn't, please believe me. Its very purpose is 
more liberty, more leisure, a shrewder sense of 
values, and the elimination of wasted energy. 

I once knew a woman who dusted the back of 
every picture in her home every day. She 
believed this was real efficiency. I also know a 

[ 195 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



woman who spoiled a delightful camping ex- 
perience by so elaborating the simple work of 
camp-caretaking that she rarely had time to 
enjoy the woods and fields so plentiful about 
her, and complained after some months of 
camping that she had never had a single day of 
rest! This is typical of a large class of women 
whose sense of values are garbled by inefiicient 
thinking. 

Women have need for the very best of logic, 
culture, and mental training in order that they 
may judge homemaking values truly. 



[196] 



CHAPTER THIRTEEN 

MEN AND THE HOUSEHOLD EFFI- 
CIENCY MOVEMENT 



IJECAUSE the science of efficiency originated 
in man's world of the office, shop, and factory, a 
large responsibility rests on men to assist women 
in its application in the home. For centuries 
women's work has been carried on in the isola- 
tion of the home. Man's work during the same 
centuries has been carried on in the outside 
world of business, which gave him stimulation 
and encouragement. His world of business in- 
terests provided him with business associates 
with whom he was able to confer, and he was 
forced by economic pressure and competitive 
necessity to improve his work or fail. 

Until very recently woman has not had the 
stimulation of other women interested in her 
work of homemaking, and particularly she has 
had no competitive spur to urge her to improve 

[ 197 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



her methods or raise her particular work of 
homemaking to a higher development. If a 
man ran his business inefficiently he failed; but 
if a woman ran her home inefficiently the only 
result was a poorly fed and clothed family, which 
threw still greater burdens on society. 

Because of this seclusion and lack of stimula- 
tion, women have come to regard their work 
more from the emotional standpoint than from 
the scientific. It is not easy for them to reason, 
analyze, and minutely study home problems. 
As even an intelligent friend of mine said to me 
when I was explaining how I standardized a 
certain task : ' ' You don't mean to think I would 
be so silly as to bother which hand it was I 
raised first." 

For ages men have been our scientists and 
discoverers, the originators and developers of 
industrial systems and methods. Because of his 
long experience in the industrial world and his 
keener scientific aptitude and his knowledge of 
the efficiency doctrine in the shop, the factory, 
and the office, man most properly must come to 
assist woman in establishing her home on bases 

[198 1 



HOUSEHOLD EFFICIENCY 



on which he has for so long maintained his own 
businesses, and which he created in the first 
place. 

Viewed broadly, is it not a paradox for man 
to systematize office after office, factory after 
factory, and never give a thought to the running 
of his home, which is the object for which all 
factories and offices exist? 

There are exceptions who happily prove the 
rule, but it is, I think, true that the majority of 
men are indifferent to the way that a house is 
run (except from a financial standpoint) and 
indifferent as to whether their wives drudge or 
not. I know many cases of wealthy men who 
indulge themselves in every office convenience, 
but who refuse their wives permission to pur- 
chase kitchen equipment of the better kind; 
and rarely is it that men who have excellent 
systems and methods in their business think of 
discussing them with their wives, or adapting 
them in their homes. 

If for no other reason than selfish interest 
alone, man should be concerned that his wife or 
mother manage her household after efficiency 

[ 199 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



principles. One of the frequent complaints of 
both men and women is that the over-amount of 
housework forces a woman to forego much of the 
pleasure and companionship of her husband's 
company. Pressure of housework often pre- 
vents her, after marriage, from being the "good 
fellow" that she was as a sweetheart. Perhaps 
if man would step in and show a sympathetic 
understanding of woman's work in the home, 
assisting her to apply in it the efficient methods 
he applies in his own office, he would profit by 
more of her companionship. 

In certain homes I know of, both man and 
woman are mutually interested in the other's 
business. The woman may have worked out a 
system of home accounts, or her husband has 
brought from his office various devices like the 
"tickler," which she can use in the home. In 
my own case my husband's sympathetic coop- 
eration and assistance have put me in touch with 
the most advanced office systems, have encour- 
aged me to a more businesslike handling of my 
finances, and stimulated me in every point to 
regard homemaking as a profession as equally 

[200] 



HOUSEHOLD EFFICIENCY 



worthy as his own. Other husbands I know 
have cooperated with their wives in improving 
the kitchen arrangement, or in effecting clever 
contrivances and helps for their convenience. 

Too often the woman is drudgif ying — for 
what? A man who slavishly accepts her work 
and sacrifice, or for children who do not under- 
stand the effort and work she puts forth. He 
receives praise for his work from his business 
associates, but never thinks of bestowing praise 
upon his junior partner for her equally im- 
portant share in the business of life which they 
both manage together. 

If man will cooperate and assist woman in 
bringing about this "new housekeeping," cer- 
tainly a greater companionship between them 
will be created. It is sometimes complained 
that women are not interested in business. Is 
it not equally true that man is not interested in 
the home.f^ If both will become interested in the 
business of the other it will bring man's world 
and woman's world closer together, and create 
a stronger tie between the man and the woman. 

Some definite things can be done by men who 
[201 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



desire to interest their wives in greater efficiency 
in the home. A visit to a well-managed office 
or shop, with a homely demonstration of the 
plans in operation, is very good. Going to hear 
a lecture on scientific management is apt to 
start enthusiasm for the movement. 

Perhaps most effective of all is to interest 
other men whose wives are friends. When men 
succeed in arousing some interest in their wives, 
such a little social group of women will work out 
the new idea much more quickly and spiritedly 
than any woman singly. The purchase of good 
books is another necessary step. 

In all efforts of a "mere man" to lead women 
toward a new conception of housework and 
method, much tact and patience are necessary. 
In some cases women resent male interference or 
suggestion in house matters, while in many more 
cases women bear their heavy and troublesome 
problems alone without sympathy, and quickly 
respond to a man's kindly and intelligent inter- 
est in them. The most formidable obstacle is 
the idea of many women that a man '* never does, 
nor can, understand what she is up against," and 

[ 202 1 



HOUSEHOLD EFFICIENCY 



that in the business office or factory things can 
be done that cannot possibly be appHcable in 
the home. 

A great deal of responsibility therefore rests 
on men to help lift women out of this fallacy, 
and move the world forward. Man's pay for 
this will be increased business, for the inefficient 
woman holds back business development. 



[203] 



CHAPTER FOURTEEN 

THE HOMEMAKER'S RELATION TO 
BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



1 o-DAY, in Podunk, Mich., or Flagstaff, Ariz., 
the young men are wearing the same styles of 
collar and tie that are seen on Fifth Avenue, 
New York City. As some one has put it, "the 
country is now metropolitan from edge to edge." 
Due to this great fact (made possible largely by 
national periodicals serving as advertising medi- 
ums) we find the same kinds of goods being sold 
all over the country at the same time. 

Woman, as the "new homemaker," needs to 
understand this highly complex machinery of 
distribution which makes it possible for the 
Podunk youth and the New York youth to be 
wearing the same style collar on the same day; 
or for the woman in Tallahassee to be using the 
same peanut-butter, neckwear, and flatirons that 
are the last word in the metropolis. In order to 

[204] 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



maintain this distribution in every point of this 
immense country, great sales-forces and organi- 
zations and well-laid out policies exist. These 
sales-forces for different articles are often so 
large that they have their own conventions, 
schools, lectures, and "'house organs" devoted 
to their peculiar fields, and are little worlds in 
themselves. 

What these organizations do, and the way in 
which the housewife reacts or responds to them, 
has very direct relation to the cost of living and 
satisfactory buying. As the housewife is the 
deciding factor always, the great mass of house- 
wives could do nothing more efficient and help- 
ful than to try to make its response to sales- 
effort intelligent, and to make itself felt as a 
body in weeding out cumbersome and costly 
methods of selling and distribution. 

On a general average, it costs twice as much 
nowadays to get merchandise from the factory 
to the person who wants it as it does to make 
such merchandise. In some cases it is very 
much more. It is often not at all the desire of 
the manufacturer that the cost of selling should 

[205 1 



TJIE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



be SO high; in fact, of late years many manu- 
facturers have started, wherever practical, to 
sell direct to consumers in various ways. We 
would not have one of the most famous shoes on 
the market to-day, for instance, if a bright man 
hadn't decided to kick aside the long-established 
methods of reaching you, the buyer. He sold 
shoes by mail until their worth was recognized, 
and he could open stores of his own, and sell 
shoes with the trademark name on them. Other 
shoe dealers had always refused to sell shoes 
with the manufacturer's name or trademark on 
them. There are still a great many such dealers, 
not only in shoes, but in all lines of goods. 

If you as a buyer never asked for anything 
simply by its common name (like "shoes" or 
"flour," etc.), but made it your serious business 
to try to find the best for your purpose and at 
your price, and then always ordered it by its 
manufacturer's name or trademark, selling costs 
would come down. The maker of a good article 
could then get dealers everywhere to handle it, 
so you could buy it everywhere, and the dealers 
wouldn't want so much profit, because it would 

[ 206 ] 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



move faster, and they wouldn't have to persuade 
buyers that it was good. The dealers now want 
from 33J per cent, up to 50 per cent, profit on 
articles which are not "known." You must pay 
this, but if you are a good judge of values, and 
if you stick by something good once you find it, 
the manufacturer can compel dealers to accept 
less profit, and give you the benefit. 

The manufacturers of these thousands of 
articles, from soap to pianos, must protect their 
good- will with users, and their problems of dis- 
tribution are as perplexing as the work of a 
general handling an army of men. The woman, 
the consumer, must be protected, must be inter- 
ested, must be held; and every woman will 
benefit by understanding the difiiculties every 
manufacturer is up against, and particularly 
the important and vital part that every woman 
and homemaker plays in this drama of distribu- 
tion — the getting of a good article from the, 
factory to you in the most efficient manner. 

Merchandising, the selling of goods, never 
reached any development until it attained the 
one-price idea. The old idea of selling, still 

[ 207 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



extant in the East, and some places in Europe, 
was to change the price of an article to every 
purchaser, depending on what the dealer thought 
the customer would stand. The one-price idea, 
largely developed by John Wanamaker and 
Marshall Field, means that the same article is 
sold at one price everywhere throughout the 
country, so that it is safe to send even a little 
child to purchase. No standardized branded arti- 
cles were ^possible without the one-price plan, I 
emphasize this to show that standards of value 
depend on the continuation of the one-price 
plan, just as they were made possible only by 
the one-price plan. It is important for a woman 
to follow this, as it leads to the next point in 
the distribution story, which is the "fixed-price" 
and "cut-price" situation. When, in former 
days, every customer was at the mercy of the 
dealer, who might ask her 5 cents for soap, and 
the next customer 6 cents, there were, as I said, 
no standards of value possible. It means every- 
thing, then, to the woman consumer to help 
maintain this one-price idea, and support dis- 
tribution policies which will continue the 

[ 208 1 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



one-price policy in which hes her safety as a 
shopper. 

Let us follow the story of a well-known soap, 
for example, which sells at 8 cents for a large cake. 
Now, in order to make soap of this excellent 
standard, the manufacturers have laboured for 
years, and have established a large chain of 
factories. By effecting economies in manu- 
facture, and because of the immense number of 
cakes sold, the manufacturers are able to give 
this excellent quality at this low price of 8 cents. 
They have found that 8 cents is the lowest price 
at which they can sell so good a quality and 
weight, and still make a profit. In order that 
you woman in Florida, or you woman in Cali- 
fornia, may buy this soap at 8 cents, they have 
a gigantic system of distribution with thousands 
of salesmen and jobbers who bring the soap to 
your door. They are backing this product with 
all their reputation. 

Now let us suppose that you^ — our woman 
consumer — one day see in a drug store the 
notice that for two days this brand of soap will 
be sold at 6 cents. This looks like a great 

[209 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



chance to save pennies, and you immediately 
purchase several bars, and think you are an 
economical housewife. But let us see the inside 
result: This drug dealer, Jones, sold at this cut 
price for two days, not to give you the benefit 
of a penny saving; he used this cut price on a 
standard article, of known value and reputation, 
merely as a bait to lure you into his store, where 
he hoped you would buy other articles, like his 
own "private" brands, on which he knew he 
would make 40 or 50 per cent, profit. 

In every case of price cutting on a standard 
article the dealer steals your regard and knowl- 
edge of these standard goods, and uses the cut 
price as bait to entice you to come to his store 
and buy other articles on which he will make a 
very high rate of profit. The well-known cutting 
of three cans of soup for a quarter, etc., made 
by grocery stores, is always a bait to have you 
enter, and later purchase tea and coffee, and 
their own brands of spices and extracts, on 
which they make an immense profit. 

Let us follow our soap story farther. You 
bought several cakes at Jones's drug store, and 

[ 210 ] 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



saved almost 10 cents. But there is another 
store kept by Brown down the street, and he 
sees that Jones has cut the price on the soap, 
and that Jones is thus attracting many custom- 
ers into his store. What can Brown do.^ He 
must get up some bait to attract customers 
back, if he can. He sells this same soap for 
five cents, which may be below cost to him, 
merely to get you to enter his store. You see 
that Brown sells this soap for two days at 5 
cents, and so you run back to trade at Brown's, 
etc., like a shuttlecock, and never consider the 
part you are playing in the whole matter. Now 
Brown may be able to cut the price to 5 cents; 
but the chances are he would lose too much 
money by so doing; so, instead, he says to the 
manufacturer, "I can't make enough money on 
this soap, because I can't afford to cut the price 
on it all the time. I am not such a big dealer 
as Jones." What is the result? Because he 
cannot afford to cut the price, Brown refuses to 
handle the soap entirely. Not only does Brown 
refuse to handle the soap, but hundreds of 
other Browns all over the country who cannot 

[ 211 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



afford to cut the price refuse to handle the 
goods. 

What is the result? This manufacturer of 
good soap, who has spent money to establish it, 
and who gives you the best quality at the lowest 
price consistent with fair profit, is forced into 
one of two positions: either he must reduce the 
quality, or he must go out of business altogether, 
and in either case you are the loser. Instead of 
saving 4 cents, you have thrown a boomerang 
that, after a roundabout journey, comes back 
and hits you, and deprives you of the ability to 
buy standard products; and you, the woman 
consumer, are so much worse oflF. Instead of 
helping yourself to obtain standard articles, you 
have, by a petty * 'saving," destroyed the possi- 
bility of that manufacturer giving you a good 
product. The result is that you wonder what- 
ever became of that fine old soap you used to 
use, and why there are so many brands that 
come and go all the time. 

Every time you buy an article at a cut price 
you are registering yourself as an enemy, not a 
friend, of that article, for your action is the first 

[ 212 ] 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



step toward driving it off the market. If you 
don't like the article don't buy it at any price; 
but if you like it, pay the price set on it, if you 
believe it's worth it. If you don't think it's 
worth the price, find another article which you 
think is worth the price asked; but don't be 
a party to "pirating" and "sandbagging" an 
article. 

There is a great deal that intelligent house- 
wives can do in this matter, for there are many 
hypocritical customs which ought to be wiped 
out. There are some articles which are pur- 
posely priced high, knowing the price will not 
be asked by dealers or paid. This is especially 
so in drug and toilet articles. One-dollar arti- 
cles quite usually sell at 87 cents or somewhere 
near it; even as low as 67 cents. As a result we 
have three fourths of the drug stores calling 
themselves "cut-rate" drug stores, as if it were 
something to be proud of. All this is very 
hypocritical; why should there not be one right 
fair price to all, everywhere? 

But this is not nearly so hypocritical or mis- 
leading and even fraudulent as the thousands 

[213] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



of retail stores which are continually advertising 
and selling "$15 suits at $9.98," etc. In most 
cases these suits are nothing more than ten- 
dollar values. Many millions of dollars' worth 
of goods are sold to consumers on misrepresenta- 
tions like this. The only remedy, besides more 
laws against misleading and fraudulent adver- 
tising (such as New York and a few other states 
have), is the education of women as purchasers. 
They should study and be taught better how to 
judge values, and how much greater economy 
it is to pay a fair, regular price for only such 
articles as are of sure worth, and only when they 
are really needed. 

There are some who would say that the shop 
windows and the advertising make women ex- 
travagant, but this is the wrong view. The 
shop windows and the advertising simply prove 
how tremendously efficient they are in their 
duty of informing us; it is then up to the house- 
wife to do her part as efficiently by weighing 
values and considerations, and having the cour- 
age to say "No." A woman who is not able to 
do this is not nearly finished with her education 

[ 214 ] 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



— she is driving the family and the nation into 
a wrong economic balance which makes panics, 
unhappiness, and lack of character and worth. 
To get this education about her proper relation, 
as the great purchasing factor in modern 
life, to the business world which makes and 
sells, is her most important duty as a home- 
maker. 

Every now and then criticism is made of two 
things which are given the blame for the "high 
cost of living": the packaging of goods and 
advertising. But any woman may still buy, if 
she wishes, soda crackers, tea, or oatmeal in bulk. 
She may still buy in bulk anything also pack- 
aged, if she is ready to accept lack of freshness 
or cleanliness. It is all a question of values in 
her mind, and the cost of living need not be any 
higher because of packages if she so decides. 
If she decides for package goods, the reasons 
ought to be clear in her mind what she is gain- 
ing, and whether the higher quality of package 
goods warrants the difference in price over the 
bulk article. 

The following are, in brief, the chief reasons 
[ 215 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



why package goods have appealed so strongly 
to the average woman as worth the extra cost: 

(1) Greater sanitation in handling. 

(2) Increased keeping qualities. 

(3) More convenience in handling. 

(4) Less loss in breakage. 

(5) More accurate and responsible weighing. 

(6) More definite standards of identity and 

responsibility. 

As to advertising, it is simply a form of selling 
cost that is taking the place of other forms of 
selling cost now outgrown. A salesman who 
sells an advertised article doesn't have to call as 
often or as long on dealers to get orders; and 
the dealer, in turn, doesn't have to argue and 
explain so long to women, and thus is satisfied 
with less profit. Consequently, where it prob- 
ably would take 500 salesmen to sell a fac- 
tory's output of goods if no advertising were 
done, it takes only half or less that number 
when advertising is used, nor does it take so 
long. 

Through advertising, you hear very quickly 
now when something new and good appears; 

[ 216 ] 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



whereas without advertising you might never 
hear of it, for dealers don't Hke to buy things 
unless there is a '* demand." It actually nowa- 
days costs less, per article, to sell goods, if 
advertising is used to help, than if no advertis- 
ing is used. The large quantity of advertising 
we see everywhere is simply taking the place 
of salesmen's bills for hotel and travelling ex- 
pense, champagne for entertaining, and even 
bribes. Advertising is the more modern, clean, 
direct, and straightforward way of going right 
to the "ultimate consumer" and telling about 
the goods. There is still advertising waste and 
exaggeration and fraud, but it is being gradually 
but surely weeded out. 

The great fact which both purchaser and seller 
is finding out is that frankness and square deal- 
ing pay in the long run, and that a fair price and 
a fair profit, guaranteed satisfaction and full 
confidence, benefit both parties to a transaction. 
Also that sometimes immediate, temporary, or 
personal profit should be sacrificed to the good 
of all, and to our own future profit. This 
brings us to the small versus the large dealer — 

[ 217 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



the big downtown store versus the small neigh- 
bourhood dealer. 

Shall a woman go downtown to large depart- 
ment stores for articles which are cut in price, 
and give her small local dealer only such orders 
on which he can make little or no profit? The 
large department store must not be decried — 
it has a fine place in the community, if wisely 
used; but too often the woman consumer runs 
downtown for every so-called cut-price adver- 
tised by the ''big stores," and yet expects her 
local dealer to drive over with a loaf of bread 
any time she wishes. 

Is this fair, and how does it affect distribu- 
tion? In the first place, the small local dealers 
everywhere, because of their greater number, 
are the ones on whom satisfactory distribution 
depends. You would be greatly inconvenienced, 
without him. It is also the small local dealer 
who generally gives personal attention, which 
is lacking in big stores, and whose service is 
usually better than that of the large stores which 
are so large that they have imperfect mail and 
shipping service. It is not fair to buy locally 

[218 1 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



sugar and other articles on which there is httle 
or no profit and then go downtown for other 
articles. It is this which is causing so many 
small retailers to fail every year, and which 
makes poor and inefficient retailers. It is act- 
ually more profitable in the long run, counting 
carfares, time, etc., to divide your trade gener- 
ously with local retailers who can and will give 
you the personal consideration and quick service 
which more than outweigh a little difference in 
price. 

One of the business things now discussed is 
whether or not small retailers should be able to 
buy at the same price as large stores, no matter 
how much the large store buys. The finest 
and most advanced manufacturers say. Yes. 
They say the " quantity price " to large buyers 
is unfair to the small man, and tends to drive 
all small dealers out of business, and they are 
refusing to give any quantity discounts. This 
is a problem in which the intelligent housewife 
should interest herself. It is my opinion, too, 
that quantity prices should be abolished. It 
will take away the temptation to run down- 

[219] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



town to buy an article a few cents cheaper, and 
will give the shopper as good buying advantages 
near home as downtown. 

The whole aim of the woman consumer, as 
was pointed out before, is to insist and maintain 
standards in her purchasing. She can do this 
by insisting on one price; by understanding her 
position in the price maintenance situation, by 
patronizing the local dealer, and by thoroughly 
understanding the point of trademarks and 
brands and the evil of substitution. Right out 
of this matter of the small versus large dealer 
arises the difficult situation of the "private 
brand" of goods, which the woman must also 
understand to be an intelligent consumer. 

No woman now can imagine the chaos exist- 
ing a century ago when no trademark guarantee 
was placed on goods. The trademark is the 
identification, the guarantee of standards. The 
trademark represents that pride of quality be- 
hind the goods for which the manufacturer 
stands, and which he is willing to back with 
his reputation. The trademark is the guaran- 
tee to the consumer. The same motive that 

[ 220 1 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



prompted Cremona or Stradivarius as a name 
on a violin of quality prompts the responsible 
manufacturer to brand his goods. He wants to 
lift his goods above the low level of other 
merchandise of the same class. 

A certain manufacturer makes baked beans; 
he spends years developing his process and 
manufacture to a high point; he spends money 
to advertise and interest you in his product; he 
gives it to you at the lowest price consistent with 
fair profit, and he adopts a design, name, or 
mark so that you can identify him as the manu- 
facturer of this article upon which his whole repu- 
tation is at stake. If dissatisfied, and you fail 
to continue to buy and recommend his beans, he 
is lost — all his business is wiped out. Therefore 
you have a hold on him — you can strike back 
at him if he does not uphold a good standard. 

But you have no hold on the manufacturer 
who won't put his name or trademark on his 
goods. You can't find him — there's no way 
of proving he made them, and he can therefore 
make goods as poorly as he pleases, as long as 
somebody will buy them from him. 

[221] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Here comes in a distribution secret: the fact 
that there are numbers of big department stores 
and other dealers and wholesalers who are very 
fond of buying this anonymous kind of goods 
from manufacturers and putting their own names 
on it, to lead people to believe they make it. 
One manufacturer may make goods for six or a 
hundred such firms, and put six or a hundred 
different ''private brands," names, and labels on 
the same kind of goods! These goods may sell 
at all kinds of prices — usually many times more 
than they're worth. These big stores and whole- 
salers prefer to sell "private brand" goods 
rather than goods bearing the manufacturer's 
trademark, simply because they make more 
profit on the private brand. You've got to 
trust the store instead of the manufacturer, and 
as the store has many other things to sell if you 
don't like this one article, it hasn't so much to 
lose, and isn't so particular about the quality of 
the article. The real manufacturer is anxious 
about quality, but the stores that distribute 
private brands care most about price. 

It is another reason for encouraging the small 
[ 222 ] 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



dealer, that he usually keeps many more goods 
which carry manufacturer's trademarks than 
the big stores downtown. He isn't so strong 
as the big store, therefore he knows he can't 
attempt to sell you so many "private brand," 
irresponsible goods, with only his own label on 
them. 

The matter of standards again enters our next 
point of substitution. The woman pledged to 
accept and encourage standards of production 
will refuse to encourage substitution, because of 
which millions of dollars is lost annually for 
both the housewife and the manufacturer. Sub- 
stitution is the effort of the retailer to offer 
some other standard article than that for which 
you asked. Every good article is followed by a 
crowd of imitators who camp on its trail, and who 
follow its trademark, imitating the name, the 
size, shape, colour and label as closely as possible. 
Every time a woman accepts an imitation she 
is harming the distribution of the good article, 
and lessening its sales, thereby decreasing the 
possibility of the continuance of the good article 
in the market. 

[223 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Practically every time a woman accepts a 
substitute she gets less than what she asks for. 
She should never, on principle, accept a sub- 
stitute, unless she is actually compelled to by 
circumstances. It is like throwing a train off 
its track. It interrupts and destroys the judg- 
ment of the purchaser, and cripples the whole 
distribution system, to say nothing of adding to 
the cost of living. It is a confession that your 
judgment is defective. It is possible that ad- 
vertising has fooled you into believing an article 
good, but it is much more possible and probable 
that your dealer is trying hard to make 60 per 
cent, profit off of you, when the article you ask 
for offers him only 30 per cent. Advertisers 
who fool you can't stay in business very long — 
because you don't buy again when you find an 
article isn't good. An article advertised for a 
number of years is almost proof in itself that it 
is honest and good, because merit only, as a rule, 
can stand the test of time. 

Women are still too fickle in their buying; too 
many are attracted by every new or different 
brand, and do not realize that because they do 

[ 224 ] 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



not stick to articles of real merit, they seriously 
harm the distribution of good articles, and lessen 
the chance that good articles will be continuously 
manufactured for them. It is perfectly clear 
that good articles cannot be made as cheaply or 
efficiently unless there is a fairly guaranteed 
market for them. Big factories must be built, 
and cannot be abandoned without loss when 
women lose interest. 

A whole chapter and a whole book could be 
written on the distribution of dress materials 
and clothes alone. The reason why clothing 
materials are so high is not because of tariff or 
high cost of manufacture — but because women 
are capricious and do not buy uniformly, and 
are swayed by hectic appeals or whims. If 
every manufacturer this moment knew within 
15 per cent, just what, and how much, every 
woman would buy of the main supplies each 
year for three years, prices would come down 
with a thud, as much as 40 per cent. 

Weavers of cloths have a terribly wasteful 
time every year trying to find out what women 
"are going to wear." Many make up 400 or 

[225] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



more kinds of weaves, knowing they will only 
sell in quantities about sixteen of them. Which 
sixteen — that's the rub ! If women refused to 
follow radical styles, and did not waver toward 
extremes so often and suddenly, prices would be 
lower. It is not true that manufacturers ma- 
nipulate styles — they'd be as rich as Croesus 
if they could. Instead, most of them have a 
hard time making money. It's what you as a 
woman will do when various styles are put before 
you that counts. If we as women acted more 
firmly and unitedly in turning down most of the 
fashions, and were more willing, like men, to 
have our clothes look a little more alike, and to 
keep a good style longer, we could save a lot 
of money for other things, to say nothing of 
nerves and time and heartaches. 

One other point remains: the relation of the 
woman as a householder to social justice. The 
most progressive manufacturers now realize that 
it is the best general business policy that the 
purchaser pay as small a price as is consistent 
with a fair return to capital invested and the 
cost of eflScient distribution; and that a living 

[226 1 



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 



wage must be paid the worker in order to make a 
high grade standard article of best value to the 
consumer. No consumer can in the long run 
afford to buy cheap articles which are cheap 
because they were made in unsanitary condi- 
tions, or because the worker worked, under any 
conditions that degraded, overworked or stulti- 
fied him mentally, morally, or socially. The 
largest manufacturers of the standard articles 
are the very ones who have done the most for 
the conditions of their workers. It is not 
enough that "welfare" work be done and "rest 
rooms," etc., be provided; it is much more im- 
portant that wages be right, that intelligence 
and efiiciency are properly rewarded, and that 
society is the gainer on a broad basis because 
of that industry's existence. 

It is woman's privilege and duty as the 
possessor of the powerful weapon of purchaser 
that it be used to prevent social injustice. It is 
a very great and important step toward social 
justice when we insist that the goods we buy 
are made or manufactured under proper condi- 
tions. All of us in the long run can afford to 

[227 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



pay the needed price. To buy a bit of goods 
at a ridiculously low price, because some mother 
and father and some employer were willing to 
drain the youth and bloom of a little child, is 
social immorality and crime — when it isn't 
ignorance. The economic relation of woman to 
the rest of the world is a terribly real thing and 
a live responsibility. 



[ £28 ] 



CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

EDUCATION AND THE HOME 
ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



Uo YOU wish your daughter trained in woman's 
great work of homemaking, or will you be satis- 
fied if she merely receives "culture," and studies 
only such subjects as latin, mathematics, lan- 
guages, and music? 

This is the big vital question which you as the 
average American mother are settling one way 
or the other, thereby determining how the edu- 
cation of the future woman will be planned. As 
intelligent mothers interested in the greatest 
happiness and success of your daughters, you 
ought to know what the present day educational 
situation is, so that you can help in bringing 
about the wisest course. 

There are two kinds of opinions swaying the 
schools and colleges of the country to-day. One 
opinion says that your daughter should not 

[ 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



waste the precious limited amount of time she 
can spend in high school or college studying cook- 
ing, cleaning, and homemaking, which it says 
you can teach her, or leave safely to her "in- 
stinct" and general intelligence; such opinion 
believes that in this precious time in school she 
should get closer to the great minds of the ages, 
to the thinkers, poets, writers, and the history, 
art, and music of all time. 

The other kind of educational opinion says 
that your daughter is a human being with a 
definite line of work in life, and that you owe it 
to her first of all to give her the best practical 
and theoretical training for her future life work. 
It holds that every woman is inherently a home- 
maker, and that the best thing you can do for 
her happiness or the welfare of society is to 
train her in this work of homemaking. This 
opinion holds that homemaking is not a simple 
kind of knowledge which can be left to chance, 
but that it is a serious, many-sided study, brim- 
ful of opportunity to apply the highest kind of 
knowledge, science, art, and all the ideals of 
culture and education. 

[ 230 1 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



These educators insist that your daughter 
will be a better wife and mother, a happier 
homemaker, if she is taught definitely how to 
apply her art, her literature, her biology, her 
chemistry, to the real problems she will have to 
face later as a homemaker. They ask, why 
teach art without showing her practically how 
to bring art into the decoration and furnishing 
of her home? They ask, why teach chemistry 
without teaching the chemical changes caused 
in cooking, and right and wrong combinations 
of foods? They ask, why teach psychology 
without teaching her how to train her children's 
minds? They ask, why teach botany without 
showing her how a knowledge of the develop- 
ment of the yeast plant will teach her to make 
good bread? They ask, why teach her sociology 
and economics without showing her how to 
manage her home finances, and her relation as a 
purchasing agent to the great world of business? 

So we have a divided field of education to-day. 
Only 700 high schools, 100 normal schools, and 
130 other educational institutions (out of a 
total of several thousand) teach home economics 

[231 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



to any degree. The rest still refuse to believe 
that any but purely cultural studies can mean 
real education, and think that our daughters 
can learn in their own homes all that is necessary 
about "mere housekeeping." 

Now, in my opinion, the best course is, as it 
nearly always is, a middle course, or a combina- 
tion of both opinions. We can teach cultural 
studies and the ^practical work of home economics 
without sacrificing the good value of either. 
Latin and a course in the chemistry of foods are 
not incompatible, and a well-planned course of 
four years should give ample time for the study 
of both. I believe there are most strong reasons 
for teaching home economics as a science either 
in college or the elementary schools. 

First, modern conditions have made your 
home less and less a place where you can teach 
the things every woman should know. Modern 
manufacture has taken out of the home many 
of our old-time processes of canning, sewing, and 
cooking. It would not be possible for you, in 
many cases, to practically show your daughter 
how to do these things. Second, through eco- 

[ 232 ] 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



nomic changes, young women often go out to 
work immediately after, or before, the comple- 
tion of their high-school work, and have no time 
nor opportunity later to study these subjects in 
the home and must study them in the school, 
if they study them at all. Third, if you are wise, 
you will wish your daughter to know more than 
you know^ — old time methods and ideas are 
changing, and the school will teach your daugh- 
ter new methods, tell her of new equipment, and 
inform her of the new housekeeping which 
means less drudgery and effort than you have 
put into your work all your life. 

Last, by dignifying home economics as a 
science, and placing it on a level with other 
cultural studies, your daughter will learn to 
recognize and accept the dignity of housework 
and homemaking as she would never have 
learned it or accepted it in your own home 
kitchen. It is a fine antidote against the un- 
natural craving for '* careers" and the reluctance 
to give attention to and take pride in those things 
which a woman's part in life makes it imperative 
for her to know, sooner or later. 

[233 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Just what is this study of home economics, 
you may ask, about which we have been talking 
so much, and what do I think of the courses as 
they are taught at present? Let us study some 
definitions of home economics — first, that well- 
known one of Mrs. Richards, the "mother" of 
the home economics movement: 

Home Economics stands for: 

1. The ideal home life of to-day unhampered 

by the traditions of the past. 

2. The utilization of the resources of modern 

science to improve home life. 

3. The freedom of the home from the domi- 

nance of things, and their due sub- 
ordination to ideals, 

4. The simplicity in material surroundings 

which will most free the spirit, for the 
more important and permanent inter- 
ests of the home and of society. 

Home economics means, in general, the appli- 
cation of the sciences, the arts, and economics 
to the practical affairs of the family — to food, 
clothing, shelter, children, and finances. 

[ 234 ] 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



In our grade schools we have certain branches 
of home economics in the household arts — 
sewing, cooking, cleaning, weaving of textiles, 
drawing, and manual training. 

In our high schools we emphasize the reason 
why, and apply science and the arts to health, 
food, clothing, and shelter in a more advanced 
manner. 

In our higher institutions of learning home 
economics teaches the economic side of the same 
subjects, the true economy of money, how to 
purchase, how to manage finances, the business 
side of homemaking, sanitation, decoration, fur- 
nishings and construction of the home. 

Do not think that we have ideal education in 
home economics even to-day. Every woman's 
help is needed to make it still more practical 
and directly related to the work in the actual 
home. My most severe criticism of much of 
the work as carried on in many institutions is 
that the courses are often planned solely or 
largely from the professional view of those who 
are going to teach them. There is some basis for 
the jokes about domestic science students who 

[235 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



cannot run their homes efficiently after several 
years' training. This is because the work has 
been taken a little too far away from practical 
life, in many cases, and made merely a "cult." 
The work is not given by the teacher and 
received by the pupils as something to apply in 
their own homes — but merely as a course of 
study for school, and in school only, which they 
are following solely to qualify them for teaching 
some one else, and out of which to make a 
professional living. 

Another criticism I have is that too often the 
equipment of the school, the foods used, and the 
ideas of service (especially in high schools) are 
entirely out of keeping with the standards and 
purse of the girl's family; and while she is 
naturally interested, she does not apply in her 
own home what she has learned in school, 
because conditions are so different; often, too, 
she thinks of cooking as something pleasant 
and fancy to do in the clean classroom with 
shining equipment; but she lays her knowledge 
aside when she leaves the school building, and 
does not take it home with her into a dingy and 

[236] 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



inefficient kitchen, and try and change condi- 
tions at home into something better. 

There is certainly great need to give oppor- 
tunity for training in home economics to young 
women who wish to become teachers, as is done 
so splendidly at Pratt, Teachers' College, Sim- 
mons, and elsewhere; but my greatest ideal for 
domestic science education is that it shall be a 
part of every school curriculum from the grades 
up; that step by step, in advancing courses, all 
girls and young women shall study these branches 
with the view of practically developing these 
ideas in their present homes with their 
mothers, or in future homes of their own. We 
want not only trained teachers, but trained 
mothers; we want older women, all women, to 
be educated and to educate each other in these 
studies which raise the management of the home 
into woman's highest profession. 

You will be interested as a woman in learning 
what a long struggle it has been to get even 
thus far in home economics education. It is 
almost laughable nowadays to note old records 
in which is registered the struggle for popular 

[ 237 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



education, particularly by girls, who, in 1790, 
were voted by the school board of Gloucester 
Mass., "two hours of daily instruction inasmuch 
as girls are a tender and interesting branch of 
the community, but have been much neglected 
in the public schools of the town"! Girls con- 
tinued to be ''tender and interesting females" 
for some time to come; and it was not until the 
founding of Catherine Beecher's School for Girls 
at Hartford (1821), and the establishment of 
various seminaries and academies, that the 
change from "females" to women was gradually 
begun. 

Great social and economic changes in the 
home during the period of 1840 were brought 
about by new scientific discoveries and inven- 
tions, the building of railways, and the introduc- 
tion of the telegraph and cable. This changed 
industrial attitude swept over the country and 
very considerably changed the ideas of prevail- 
ing education, which up to this time had been 
limited to a study of the classics for purely 
cultural ends, but which now became enlarged 
to include technical training for some career or 

[238] 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



profession. The founding of Oberlin (1833) for 
both sexes; the beginning of normal schools in 
Lexington, Mass. (1839); the founding of the 
New England Female College (1842), all pointed 
toward this new idea of definite professional 
training for the teacher and the nurse. 

The School for Girls, mentioned previously, 
founded by Catherine Beecher and her famous 
sister Harriet, had a great effect on the educa- 
tion of women; and in about 1840 Catherine 
published our first real domestic science book, 
"A Treatise on Domestic Economy," from whose 
preface the following interesting quotations are 
made, which show that Miss Beecher at even 
that early date quite anticipated the science of 
home economics of the present day: 

"The author of this work was led to attempt 
it by discovering in her extensive travels the 
deplorable sufferings of multitudes of young 
wives and mothers from the combined in- 
fluences of foor healthy poor domestics, and a 
defective domestic education. . . . 

"The measure which more than any other 
[ 239 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



would tend to remedy this evil is to place 
domestic economy on an equality with the 
other sciences in female schools. This should 
be done because it can be properly and sys- 
tematically taught (not practically, but as a 
science), as much so as political economy or 
moral science, or any other branch of study; 
because it embraces knowledge which will be 
needed by young women at all times and in all 
places; because it is a branch of study, and 
because this method will secure a dignity and 
importance in the estimation of young girls 
which can never be accorded while they per- 
ceive their teachers and parents practically 
attaching more value to every other depart- 
ment of science than this. . . . 

''When young ladies are taught rightly to 
appreciate and learn the most convenient 
and economical modes of performing all 
family duties, and of employing time 
and money; when they perceive the true 
estimate accorded these things by teachers 
and friends, the grand cause of this evil will 
be removed." 

[240 1 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



This most interesting work was used as a 
text-book for many years, and contains such 
chapter headings as, "Pecuhar Responsibihties of 
American Women, " '' Healthful Food, " " Cloth- 
ing," "Cleanliness," ''Domestic Manners," 
"Construction of Houses." It also contained 
a "Domestic Receipt Book," one of the first on 
the subject whose aim was to furnish an "orig- 
inal collection of receipts which shall embrace a 
great variety of simple and well-cooked dishes, 
designed for everyday comfort and enjoyment." 

Owing to the Civil War, educational progress 
was somewhat delayed; the close of the war 
found many women without support who were 
forced to turn to some educational means to 
give them skill to become self-supporting; and 
hence the decade following the war was very 
productive in the establishment of various tech- 
nical schools, the founding of Vassar (1865) 
being a distinct step in advance for the education 
of women. Education at this time became even 
more practical — drawing was introduced in 
the public schools and manual training created 
a country-wide interest and enthusiasm, and 

[ 241 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



was introduced in most large cities, first in St. 
Louis (1879). By this time it was quite evident 
that the industrial factor had stamped itself 
on education, and that the why, the how, and the 
doing of things were considered of equal im- 
portance with merely knowing — the new edu- 
cation depended not on the head alone, but on 
the head and hands working in cooperation. 

In the West at this time (1870) a new kind of 
educational institution was established — the 
agricultural college — which was to give the 
greatest possible stimulus to the teaching of 
home economics, and to which it owes its real 
beginning and development. Most of these new 
Western institutions were coeducational, and 
this fact brought up the discussion as to whether 
woman was to follow the same identical lines of 
work as her brother student. Educators were 
divided in their opinions, but most of them 
inclined to some form of separate education. 
The agricultural college combined a training of 
practical preparation for life with some cultural 
training: the soil, the seed, the tree, and stock 
were studied from new angles. Subjects like 

[ 242 1 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



biology and chemistry, ''dead" when taught 
in the old theoretical style, when approached 
from this new practical angle became trans- 
fused into richness, and could at once be related 
to life and modern processes. The woman 
student of these colleges saw that her brother 
studied chemistry not merely to acquire knowl- 
edge, but to use this knowledge later in his hfe- 
work. He wanted to know about steam, not 
empirically, but so that he could run an engine. 

Women were thus taught to see that there 
could be "applied science" for women as well 
as for men; that the laws of heat could be well 
tested by the management of a kitchen stove; 
that chemistry of food was as important as the 
chemistry of the laboratory, and that biology 
with its lessons on bacteria and ''dust-gardens" 
could be more richly interpreted in terms of 
better sanitation and handling of food in the 
home. 

This led to the establishment in these colleges 
of various courses in "domestic training," in 
which the state university of Iowa was the first 
to lead with a course of lectures to junior girls 

[243 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



in matters connected with housekeeping (1872). 
Courses in laundry work, and cooking, where the 
girls prepared their own noon dinner, the nutri- 
tive values of food, and tests for food adultera- 
tion, followed. " The interest in the department 
of domestic economy has been constant and 
lively," the report of that year read, ''and has 
not only given the students manual skill, but 
increased their respect for all branches of such 
labour and added dignity to that part of their 
life hitherto considered menial drudgery." 

Kansas followed (1873); and Illinois in 1874 
opened at Urbana the first high grade college 
course in domestic science in the world. In the 
report of Miss Lou Allen, the head of the work 
for years, she says : 

"With no precedent to guide, few or no 
textbooks on the subject, with an incredulous 
public opinion to contend against, the under- 
taking seemed formidable enough. The school 
has been the outgrowth of the idea that the 
rational system of education for women must 
recognize their distinctive duties as women — 
[244] 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



the mothers, housekeepers and health-keepers 
of the world — and furnish instruction which 
shall fit them to meet these duties." 

Illinois was followed by Iowa, and in 1895 
there were ten agricultural colleges offering 
courses in domestic science. In 1905 there were 
thirty-six. The Secretary of the Department of 
Agriculture recognized the need of more text- 
books in the new science, and increased the 
number of nutrition publications, and in many 
ways by the organization of the farmer exten- 
sion and reading courses, and the "Grange" 
work, carried the work of the agricultural col- 
leges directly into the home. 

In the East the home economics movement 
has always been more closely associated with 
the rise of cooking schools, and the introduction 
of sewing and cooking into the public schools. 
The New York Cooking School (1879) ; the first 
public school kitchen (1887); the public cook- 
ing "demonstrations of Miss Parloa in Tremont 
Temple, Boston; the Boston Cooking School, 
with Mrs. Lincoln, and a long line of splendid 

[U5] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



principals ending with Fannie Merritt Farmer 
of to-day, are only steps in the chain which 
introduced cooking and domestic science into 
our public schools of every grade. 

No story of the home economics movement 
would be complete without mentioning Ellen H. 
Richards, instructor in sanitary chemistry in the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who 
may be called the real "mother" of the move- 
ment, and who devoted her life to ceaseless work 
in its behalf. Mrs. Richards's long list of books, 
that famous ''Cost" series and many others, 
showed the homemakers of a score of years ago 
that science and intelligent administration could 
raise the standards of home life, and develop 
Mrs. Richards's famous "fourth R of Right 
Living." 

The movement is now rapidly widening, and 
correspondence courses, lectures, and books on 
the subject are multiplying. Women's clubs 
throughout the country, and various special 
associations, settlement workers, individual 
cooking lecturers, the household departments 
of large publications are all taking up the work 

[246 1 



ECONOMICS MOVEMENT 



with good results. Recent individual work like 
that of Mrs. Patterson, of Colonia, who is 
helping solve the servant problem through the 
use of equipment and efficient housekeeping 
methods, the work of Mrs. Kirk of Cleveland, 
and other lecturers who are teaching actual 
housekeepers in these subjects, the fact that 
Pratt and other technical schools are now 
offering courses to housewives, are all hopeful 
signs that domestic science will soon cease to 
be the cult of a few, and become the knowledge 
and practice of the many. 

Out of it all there is bound to come a wider 
spirit of real analytical interest, and therefore 
the betterment of all home conditions, so that 
the home, the "cradle of the nation," may be 
brought toward the efficiency standards at which 
all man's endeavours and activities are so zest- 
fully aiming and working. 



[247] 



CHAPTER SIXTEEN 

THE **APPLECROrT" EFFICIENCY 
KITCHEN 



After studying for considerable time how the 
efficiency principles could be worked out in the 
home, it occurred to me that it would be excel- 
lent if I could have some definite place where I 
could continue these experiments, and study the 
'* new housekeeping" in a practical way to meet 
the average American woman's needs. Doctors 
have clinics, farmers their experiment stations, 
and chemists their laboratories, and it seemed 
quite natural that women should have some 
place especially devoted to the working out of 
home problems. Many excellent domestic sci- 
ence laboratories exist, such as the "practice 
house" at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, etc. But 
these laboratories are particularly for the student 
and not for the woman who does her own work 
or is engaged actively in managing a home. 

[248] 



**applecroft" kitchen 



I wanted some place where I could practically 
work out these "new housekeeping" ideas. I 
wanted a place where I could experiment on new 
devices, materials, and methods which might 
raise the efficiency of the typical American 
middle-class homemaker; I wanted my theories 
to have a practical test, and any writing that I 
did to be substantiated by actual work and 
comparison, and so I have developed in my own 
country home a small ''Efficiency Kitchen." 

Many "model kitchens" have been estab- 
lished with expensive equipment of the most up- 
to-date kind; but my object was not expensive 
devices or labour-savers, no matter how useful, 
but a kitchen whose fittings would be within 
the limits of a moderate income. Some enthu- 
siasts on the labour-saving subject try to main- 
tain that labour-savers solve the drudgery 
problem, and that no expense is too great in this 
line; but I know from personal experience and 
acquaintanceship with other women that the 
equipment of the kitchen on a moderate income 
must not cost more than a very moderate sum. 
Again, my purpose was to show what could be 

[249 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



done in a kitchen in which electric current and 
city conveniences were not possible; because 
while electricity is without doubt the best arti- 
ficial servant of modern times, its use is available 
to only a very limited number of the population, 
and the cost of electric installation and its 
extensive maintenance at the present rate of 
current is prohibitive for the family of moderate 
means. Last, I felt that an efficiency kitchen 
which had to face the more difficult country 
problems would benefit a greater number of 
women than would a city kitchen, whose prob- 
lems are less difficult. 

The Applecroft Efficiency Kitchen, then, is 
not a model kitchen with expensive fittings, tools 
or equipment. It measures only 12 by 14 feet, a 
space small enough that no waste motion occurs 
between tasks. Double casement windows at 
the south and west let in a quantity of light 
upon the working spaces, and give the ''long 
view" of outdoors so necessary to relieve the 
eye strain of the worker. 

The kitchen itself is finished in light cream 
with white woodwork in a "flat" washable 

[250] 



applecroft" kitchen 



paint, which insures sanitary handling, and 
which is most cheery, Hght, and cool. The floor 
is covered with a new pressed cork material 
impervious to grease and very soft to the foot 
of the worker. The arrangement of the chief 
equipment is after the manner of the efficient 
kitchen described in chapter three. Beginning 
at the south wall, there is, first, a kitchen ele- 
vator; next, between the windows, a kitchen 
cabinet, then the three-burner oil stove, and to 
the right a large serving table, under which is a 
three-hole fireless cooker. This finishes the 
equipment of Group I. On the other side of 
the room — Group II — is merely a double 
drain kitchen sink, with china shelves the whole 
length of the dining-room wall to the left of the 
sink. 

The big central idea in the arrangement of the 
kitchen is to efficiently route the processes and 
work which go on there, in order to save cross- 
stepping, confusion, and energy. The same idea 
that is nowadays applied to factory layout — 
the moving of the work in one direction, process 
after process, with as little waste motion as 

[251] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



possible — was applied to the layout of the 
Efficiency Kitchen. 

The refrigerator, kitchen cabinet, stove, and 
table are in one group, placed so that food from 
the icebox is placed on the cabinet table next to 
it, in preparation for cooking on the stove next 
to it, and lifted when finished from the stove to 
the metal-topped table next to it. From ice- 
box all the way to the dinins!- room is in one 
direction. 

On the other side of the kitchen entirely, and 
moving in the opposite direction, is the clearing- 
away-process group. The sink, drain-boards, 
garbage disposal, and china closet are close 
together. The wheel-tray brings the materials 
from the dining-room, and the dishes are put 
through the process, all in one direction. 

Smaller utensils are grouped with the large 
process to which they belong. Rolling-pin, 
graters, mixing spoons, and egg-beaters are near 
the kitchen cabinet; pancake turner, skimmer, 
and long fork are near the stove; colanders and 
potato-ricer near the serving table. A two- 
burner oven with glass door is used for all 

[ 252 ] 



"applecroft" kitchen 



baking; an improved colander can be screwed 
to the kitchen table; a bread and cake mixer 
are used when needed; a roll of paper toweling 
is over the table, where it is used for draining 
potatoes, croquettes, and doughnuts. 

Some of the equipment is fairly expensive, but 
I am testing it to see if the labour saved justifies 
the expense. Such a piece is the kitchen ele- 
vator, which is really an icebox on pulleys, 
which can be raised and lowered through the 
kitchen floor to the cellar at the touch of a 
button. By this device I am able to keep foods 
in the cool cellar, and yet have them in the 
kitchen when I need them without the great 
loss of energy of running up and down the cel- 
lar steps. A wheel-tray with two large trays 
mounted on rubber tire wheels enables me to 
load all the dishes for a meal on it at once, so 
that one trip is all that is necessary to serve my 
meal from the kitchen to the dining-room. 
After the meal the wheel-tray is loaded with 
soiled dishes and pushed to the right of the sink, 
where it acts as a sink-table to hold them until 
washed. The kitchen cabinet, though fairly 
' [ 253 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



expensive, I regard as the best step saver 
any woman can have in her kitchen. It is 
practically a complete pantry for the storage 
of current dry groceries and most of the pots 
and pans. 

All the smaller equipment of the kitchen is 
aluminum, as I believe aluminum utensils are 
preferable to almost any other kind because of 
their lightness, lack of seams, and unusually 
more artistic shapes. Many of the utensils are 
very decorative, as I believe it is almost as 
valuable to have utensils and pans that are 
decorative as utensils and pans that are efficient. 
Around two sides of the kitchen is a shelf on 
which I have placed the especially decorative 
pitchers, Thermos jugs and casseroles, whose 
quaint shapes and beauty greatly enhance the 
appearance of the kitchen. 

The fuels used in the kitchen are only kero- 
sene in the three-burner stove, and alcohol in 
the emergency chafing-dish. With the fireless 
cooker, the portable oven, and the three-burner 
oil stove I have been able to cook satisfactorily 
and with great comfort for a family of five and 

[254] 



"'applecroft" kitchen 



numerous guests. I banished the coal stove 
from the very beginning, because generally the 
fuel consumed is greater proportionately than 
the amount of heat produced. In addition, the 
ashes and dirt, not to mention labour, resulting 
from the use of coal, are not compatible with the 
highest efficiency. One of the problems of the 
kitchen is to find still more ways of utilizing the 
fireless cooker so that fuel and excess heat in 
the kitchen can be reduced to a minimum. By 
also using a triple-deck ''steamer," and casserole 
serving dishes, the kitchen has been able to 
greatly reduce the labour of washing many pots 
and pans. 

There are many other small pieces of equip- 
ment like the Thermos carafe, Christy mixing 
bowl, and an excellent Chatillon scale which 
make for efficiency in saved labour and expense ; 
but the aim of the kitchen is to see how few 
utensils, pots, and pans are necessary to the 
average housekeeping. It is in the way tasks 
are done and their better planning that the 
kitchen seeks greater efficiency for the home- 
maker. 

[255] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



The objects of the kitchen, then, are to enable 
me to still more accurately standardize any 
household tasks; to enable me to test the various 
kinds, shapes, and materials of various utensils; 
to study the best arrangement and materials 
which can be employed, so that I can still more 
effectively assist women in their household prob- 
lems. The work of the kitchen is not limited 
to the kitchen proper, but includes experiments 
in cleaning, cleansing devices and tools, and 
all processes connected with housekeeping and 
homemaking. 

One of the chief developments of the kitchen 
is a complete list or file of the name of every 
manufacturer of every kind of equipment or 
labour-saving device for the home. The kitchen, 
in other words, aims to act as a clearing house 
between the manufacturer and the homemaker 
and to be ''competent counsel" to the woman 
who is interested in increasing the efficiency of 
her housekeeping. Manufacturers, too, often 
care to have a practical test of their devices 
before they are put on the market; already 
several have received helpful criticism of their 

[256] 



''applecroft" kitchen 



products. And last, the experiments in the 
kitchen will serve as a solid basis on which to 
write articles and matter for publication, so that 
any work or new material will have the basis of 
practical testing in a real home under average 
home conditions. 



{257 



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HOME ECONOMICS 



In this chapter it is not possible to give but a 
partial list of books on this wide subject. Many 
excellent books were omitted because they were 
too technical or elaborate for use in the home. 
Such books were chosen as would appeal most 
strongly to the individual homemaker, and 
assist her to increase her knowledge, stimulate 
her interest, and raise the standards of her 
personal efficiency as a homemaker. 

Farmers' Bulletins of the Department 0/ Agriculture 

These Bulletins can be obtained free, by writing for 
the desired number, to the Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C. The following list is a partial one, 
which the author has found helpful: 

No. 34. Meats, Composition, and Cooking 

No. 142. Nutrition and Nutritive Values of Food 

No. 391. Economical Use of Meat in the Home 

No. 389. Bread and Bread-making 

No. 413. Care of Milk, and Use in the Home 

[258 1 



HOME ECONOMICS 



No. 128. Eggs and Their Uses as Food 

No. 183. Meat on the Farm — Butchering, etc. 

No. 203. Canned Fruits, Preserves, etc. 

No. 121. Beans, Peas, etc., as Food 

No. 363. Use of Milk as a Food 

No. 298. Food Value of Corn and Corn Products 

No. 256. Preparation of Vegetables for the Table 

The Library of Home Economics 

This library consists of the following twelve volumes, 
which can be purchased separately. Each book is written 
by a specialist, but very simply and plainly, so that these 
volumes are particularly valuable and helpful to the 
homemaker. They are published by the American 
School of Home Economics, Chicago, which maintains 
the best correspondence courses given at the present 
time in home economics, and which publishes other 
interesting literature. Price of set, $15. 

1. The House: Its Plan, Decoration and 

Care Bevier 

2. Household Bacteriology Elliott 

3. Household Hygiene Elliott 

4. Chemistry of the Household . . . Dodd 

5. Principles of Cookery Barrows 

6. Food and Dietetics Norton 

7. Household Management .... Terrill 

8. Personal Hygiene Le Bosquet 

9. Home Care of the Sick .... Pope 

10. Textiles and Clothing ..... Watson 

11. Care of Children Cotton 

[259] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Teachers' College Bulletins 

Teachers* College, Columbia University, New York 
City, publishes the following helpful little bulletins and 
others at low price: 

Hints on Clothing . . . Price 10 cents Woolman 
Feeding of Young Children Price 10 cents Rose 

Household Economics 

The following books discuss home economics in a 
broad general way as well as entering into details: 

The Home Economics Movement, Whitcomb and Bar- 
rows; Huntington Chambers, Boston; price $.75 

This interesting little book discusses the Home Economics Movement 
and its introduction into the public schools and colleges. 

Household Economics, Helen Campbell; Putnam & Sons, 
New York City; price $1.50. 

This thoughtful book describes the building of the house, its decora- 
tion, furnishings; nutrition, cleansing processes, household service and 
organized living. 

Home Economics, Maria Parloa; Century Co., New York 
City; price $1.00. 

Miss Parloa was one of the founders of the Home Economics Move- 
ment. This book discusses household management, and is full of 
practical suggestions about the home. 

The Art of Right Living; Whitcomb & Barrows; price 
$.50. 

In this booklet, Mrs. Richards, the founder of the Home Economics 
Movement, shows the practical application of ideals of living, food, 
shelter, sleep, exercise, etc. 

[ 260 1 



HOME ECONOMICS 



The Cost of Food, Richards; Wiley; price $1.00. 

This is one of Mrs. Richards' s famous cost series in which she gives 
valuable suggestions with regard to reasonable priced dietaries. It 
helps with special problems of the cost of food for the infant, the school 
child, etc. 

The Cost of Living, Richards; Wiley; price $1.00. 

In this volume Mrs. Richards surveys the whole control of family 
expenditures for better home life. The division of expenditures for 
various items, clothing, food, operating expenses, etc., are all treated 
with detail, and is of especial help to those with incomes of $1,500 or over. 

The Cost of Shelter, Richards; Wiley; price $1.00. 

This book treats of the relation of the house to housekeeping; the 
relation of cost of shelter and total income, and the problem of whether 
to rent or own. 

The Cost of Cleanness, Richards; Wiley; price $1.00 

This small volume treats of the clean house, the clean city, the cost of 
uncleanness, and shows the economic loss due to unsanitary conditions. 

Accounts 

How to Keep Household Accounts; Harper Bros., New 
York City; price $1.00. 

This little book is full of good suggestions, and shows how to keep 
household accounts, explains how to start and keep a bank account, 
and contains other banking and business information for the woman 
spender. 

The Woman Who Spends, Richardson; Whitcomb & 
Barrows; price $1.00. 

This interesting small volume discusses somewhat theoretically 
woman's position as a consumer, and as a producer, and gives the home- 
maker some novel viewpoints. 

[ 261 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Care of the Child 

Care and Feeding of Children, Holt; Appleton, New York 
City; price $.75. 

A book for mothers of young children, which in simple catechism 
form is most helpful, clear, and scientific as well, and which is probably 
the best single book for the mother of a young child. 

Proper Feeding of the Family, Gibbs; price $.25. 

This pamphlet is issued by the Association for Improving the Condi- 
tion of the Poor, New York City, 105 East 22nd St. It tells in most 
simple way about foods, and how to prepare them, with specimen 
dietaries for the most moderate means, and for school children. 

A Nursery Manual, Benson; Boercke & Tafel, New York 
City; price $1.00. 

This is an excellent simple book for the mother, and is especially 
helpful in giving modified milk formulae, and rules for care and treat- 
ment of the sick child. 

The Daily Meals of School Children, Hunt. 

This is a free pamphlet. No. 3, of the U. S. Bureau of Education, 
and gives excellent suggestions for making school lunches, which should 
be helpful to every mother of school children. 

The Baby; Rose. Free pamphlet in the Cornell Reading 
Course, published at Ithaca, N. Y. 
Tells just how best to wash, dress, and care for the baby. 

Feeding of Young Children, Rose; Teachers* College; 
price $.10. 

A bulletin which gives simple meals for the child from 2 to 6 years, 
and wMch is suggestive and practical. 

[ 262 1 



HOME ECONOMICS 



Children's Diet in Home and School, Hogan; Doubleday, 
Page & Co.; price $.75. 
Is a helpful guide in preparing the best meals for children. 

Cookery 

Home Science Cook Book, Lincoln & Barrows; Whit- 
comb & Barrows; price $1.00, 

This very practical and reasonable cook book treats the dishes of 
breakfast, lunch, and dinner in an interesting way. It gives general 
principles for many dishes, and is a cook book which would be par- 
ticularly good for the young housekeeper. 

Boston Cook Book, Lincoln; Little-Brown Co., Boston; 
price $2.00. 

How to make staples, such as soup, bread, etc., with short discussion 
of foods and diets for invalids, is included in this sensible book. 

Practical Cooking and Serving, Hill; Doubleday, Page & 
Co., Garden City, Long Island; price $1.50. 
A comprehensive book, well illustrated, and valuable. 

Hostess of To-day, Larned; Scribners, New York City; 
price $1.50. 

This gives excellent suggestions for menus, with cost of recipes; espe- 
cially suitable for well-to-do homes. 

Cooking for Two, Hill; Little-Brown Co., Boston; price 
$1.50. 
Excellent book of recipes and dainty dishes for the very small family. 

Boston Cooking School Book, Farmer; Little-Brown Co., 
Boston; price $2.00. 

All of these books by Miss Farmer are splendidly illustrated, well 
written and clear, with most reliable recipes. 

[263 1 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



Foods and Cookery for the Sick, Farmer; Little-Brown Co. • 

$1.50. 
New Book of Cookery, Farmer; Little-Brown Co., $1.50. 
Chafing Dish Possibilities, Farmer; Little-Brown Co.; 

$1.00. 

How to Cook in Casserole Dishes, Neil; David McKay, 

Philadelphia; price $1.00. 

This very well illustrated book shows how to prepare foods eco- 
nomically and more appetizingly with the aid of the casserole, which 
should be a method of cooking practised in every American home. 

The Fireless Cook Book, Mitchell; Doubleday, Page & 
Co., Garden City, Long Island.; price $1.25 
This book tells all about the wonderful fuel-saving fireless, and in- 
cludes two hundred and fifty recipes, and twenty drawings, with full ex- 
planations how to use this great boon to the housewife. 

Housewifery 
The Care of the House, Clark; Macmillan, New York 
City; price $1.50. 

This is a clear and comprehensive treatise of the house, its materials, 
woodwork, and care of plumbing, lighting and heating. 

The Complete Housekeeper, Holt; Doubleday, Page & 
Co.; price $1.00. 

This is a large and excellent work on the whole matter of housekeeping, 
the care of every department of the home. It is a practical guide as to 
how to clean, wash, renovate and preserve the different materials and 
objects in the home. 

Cleaning and Renovating at Home, Osman; McClurg, 
Chicago, 111. 

This is a compendium of all the processes of cleaning and renovating 
that may be carried on at home. 

[264 1 



HOME ECONOMICS 



The Fuels of the Household, White; Whitcomb & Bar- 
rows; price $.75. 

This is a small book designed to instruct the young housewife in the 
use of the fuels of the home. 

The Laundry, Rose; Cornell University Bulletin, free. 
Practical helps and discussions of laundry questions. 

Laundry Work, Sheppard; University of Minnesota; 
price $.50. 

Small but good discussions of laundry problems. 

Approved Methods of Home Laundering; Proctor & 
Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio; free. 

Although it mentions the various soaps of the company, it is an 
excellent booklet 

Bulletins of the Bureau of Entomology 
These can be obtained free by writing the Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, of which L. O. Howard 
is chief. 

The True Clothes Moth. Circular 36. 
The Bed Bug. Circular 47. 
House Flies. Circular 108. 
House FUes. Circular 71. 

Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home. 
Several of these excellent bulletins have been men- 
tioned under their proper heads. Write for further 
information to Martha Van Rensselaer, Ithaca, N. Y. 

Health League Booklets 
113 Devonshire St., Boston. These are twenty short 
and helpful booklets which will be sent on payment of a 

[ ^65 ] 



THE NEW HOUSEKEEPING 



$1.00 annual membership in the League. Some of the 
subjects are Meat and Drink, Care of Little Children, 
Microbes, etc. 

Bulletins of Professor Barnard at Darien, Conn. 

Professor and Mary Barnard for years maintained a 
unique Household Experiment Station at Darien, Conn. 
Many excellent bulletins, such as, "Cooking with De- 
natured Alcohol," "Comfort in the Kitchen," etc., were 
formerly issued by him. The plans of the station have 
changed somewhat, and the author's last advice was that 
bulletins were no longer to be issued. But Professor 
Barnard devoted many years to improving the standards 
of housework, and a debt of gratitude is due for his 
pioneer work in raising homemaking to a professional 
standard. 



THE END. 



THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. 







^> ^ « , \ - •^^" 'O f/ , 


> " oV 




N^'\^-. 



'^>. ' * « , A- ^ .-0"^ 







p,,^^' .*AV1CA = 






0' c " 






^^^ .. ^ ' « .? '' 




.0 



• ^>v>^ 




0" 



'^. .^' 



%^ ^. 









'^^ -<> 



.^% 






''' :> ft -^ "" V'"^ 







,0 












«^;V 




OQ^ 



X,-^' 






r-*' 



.^•% = 



fi 



s ^ /\ 



,0 o^ => m=. 



0- ^ 



^^^^^^^.^ ^^..^'~" 



A ' s ■ \ 






,,-v ^^^ .*^ 






X' ^ 



■-v. .^-^ 



\- ,/>^ 



■X^' '-^- 



s .'X 






.0 



-*. 'X' 



xx> -^y.. 






;^#V"^.* ^: 



'V" 


--^<. 


. V';?r*'^^^^ 




cP- ^1-, 




■^ 


0^ =^-? 


^= V*" 




'".'I 


#. 




' \-" ..., V* 


V' ^^ _ 


" / r^ 


^^^' ^ - '^/ c- 


" ? -^^ 


V--'' '"^ 














?o^ 



■//, 



A<^ ^*^., " 



^'^^ 



% A^^ 



-^:s. ,<^' 



\V -S' 



.<^ "^^^. 






-ec. .'^'^ 



-' <-'. 






c-^^ 






^,%_^^^ .^l^^-.'^ --^^ 



oo^ 



• o- 












\' - ^(^ ^.'- '>. '. 



^le^/ ^ •/- - 






'^A v^- 






,.>/f>%. 






^/>r^^\cP 



-.^<^ 






O^ s 












.-b 



.^^ ^\i 












